The state Senate 6th District has been in GOP hands for decades, and it has some of the county’s reddest precincts. For the past 13 years, Republican Becky Duncan Massey has occupied the seat. Democratic newcomer Domonica Bryan is mounting a challenge this year.

Massey enjoys a massive fundraising advantage in the traditionally Republican-leaning district.

The district has a large geographic footprint, including Northeast, East and South Knox County, as well as South Knoxville and West Knoxville along the Tennessee River to Concord.

Communities with residents of all socioeconomic backgrounds are spread throughout the district — economically challenged urban neighborhoods, vast amounts of farmland, middle-class subdivisions and affluent waterfront developments.

Massey has been reelected three times, never failing to get at least 60 percent of the vote. She is chair of the Senate Transportation and Safety Committee and a member of the Health and Welfare Committee.

Bryan is a political newcomer who was galvanized to run by the Covenant School shooting and cites her experience working with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services as solid preparation for the seat.

Massey turned back a challenge from anti-abortion activist Monica Irvine in the GOP primary, while Bryan was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

As the incumbent, Massey has enjoyed a huge lead in fundraising. As of Oct. 10, finance disclosure reports showed she had $91 on hand for every dollar in Bryan’s account — $603,274, compared to $6,646 for the challenger.

Here are profiles of the candidates. Massey’s was adapted from the profile of her written for the primary.

Domonica Bryan

A longtime employee of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, Bryan decided to run for office the week of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville in March 2023.

Her oldest daughter, then 7 years old, came home from school after an active shooting drill and broke down crying. Later, she told Bryan that during lunch she and her friends had discussed what they would do if someone came to their school with a gun.

“I'm from the generation where we were talking about swapping your peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my ham sandwich,” she said during an interview. “We weren't talking about how to survive an active shooter event.”

Also that week, Bryan tried to reassure a transgender girl that she would not get arrested if she went out in public; the girl committed suicide the next day. The following day, a Friday, a friend encouraged her to run for office, and she told her husband that night.

“He said, ‘It makes sense for you. You're that type of person. I can absolutely see you run for office,’” she said.

Bryan was born in Charlotte, N.C., and graduated from Fayetteville State University, a historically Black university. She and her husband, Levar, moved to Knoxville when he accepted a job here. They have three children and live in West Knox County. 

Bryan said her 16-year career at DCS has prepared her for serving in the Legislature. For six years, she investigated severe abuse cases, then became a mediator and now is the professional development coach for the East Region.

“I've seen the kind of impact legislation has,” she said, recounting the story of a 12-year-old girl who had been sexually abused by an uncle and became pregnant. “It's opened my eyes to how legislation impacts people's everyday life.”

Bryan said she researched legislators and their voting records, and opted to challenge Massey instead of running for the 14th District seat held by Republican Jason Zachary. She said Massey, while personally likable, sometimes will state a position but vote another way.

“This past legislative session, I think she got a little more extreme, which is a complete contrast of what our district wants and what our district deserves,” she said.

Bryan pointed to Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher proposal and the state’s abortion ban as examples. She said Massey initially opposed vouchers, but changed her mind. 

Bryan wants to fully fund public schools and said that voucher programs in other states don’t work. She noted that vouchers wouldn’t cover the cost of tuition at most private schools, and most working families wouldn’t be able to make up the difference.

“If you can afford to send your kids to private school, that's great,” she said. “I'm not anti private schools. I'm just anti taking public money for private schools.”

Staunchly pro-choice, she said Massey has recently supported exemptions to the state’s stringent abortion ban, but was one of the sponsors of the Human Life Protection Act in 2019. The “trigger law” took effect after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Gun safety is a passion for Bryan, who supports “red flag” laws to keep firearms out of the hands of people experiencing mental health crises. “It’s about common sense,” she said. “I own a firearm. My husband owns a firearm. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m all for the Second Amendment, but we have to make sure that someone that is in the middle of a mental health crisis doesn't have access to handguns.”

Bryan said many Republican voters she meets when campaigning are fed up with the GOP supermajority in the Legislature and are considering voting for Democrats. She said she can relate to voters, understands their concerns and will fight for them in Nashville.

“I understand what it feels like to go into a grocery store and have a budget; I understand what it's like to drop your child off at school and be fearful they're not going to make it home,” she said. “I understand you, and with my experience (with DCS), I've seen firsthand what it looks when like people like you are not being supported, and I know the effects that has in your day to day life.”

Becky Duncan Massey

Massey is running for reelection, she said, “to continue to serve, to continue to make a difference, to continue to pass legislation that saves lives or makes a dramatic positive difference in the life to protect vulnerable people.” 

She emphasizes that she gets results, noting that 30 of the 31 bills she sponsored in this year’s session passed unanimously.

“When you can be as effective as I've been able to be, and you can pass legislation that saves lives or dramatically helps people, it's hard to step down,” she said.

Massey points to two recent developments that she has championed through her committee memberships: a projected overhaul of Interstate 40/75 through West Knoxville and a study that could lead to a new state psychiatric hospital in the Knoxville area.

“I feel like I'm uniquely positioned to spearhead it,” she said. “That's not saying it wouldn't get done if I'm not there, but I believe it would take a lot longer. You try to have a champion pushing it forward.”

When it comes to economic incentives to bring jobs to Tennessee, Massey focuses less on tax breaks and more on ways to make life easier for the workforce. She would like to loosen regulations to encourage more housing that middle-income families can afford to buy. She also wants to address the $2 billion a year Tennessee loses in economic impact because of a lack of affordable and accessible child care.

Massey said one of the initiatives she’s pushing is “Promise of Futures,” which would provide last-dollar funding for early childcare or early education. That would free up parents to rejoin the workforce, she said.

She wants to see a return on investment and performance measures in incentive packages, but noted that in some cases the money goes toward road and infrastructure improvements that otherwise wouldn’t be funded.

Massey pushed back on Bryan’s characterization of her stance on abortion. 

She pointed to an abortion ban exemption bill she supported that would have helped bring child rapists and people who commit incest to justice. She supports an exemption to save the life of a pregnant woman — “I don't want anybody to hesitate if the life of the mom is in danger,” Massey said — and efforts to improve childcare, foster care and adoption services.

“I am pro-life, both pre-birth and post-birth,” she said.

Massey said her position on school vouchers is evolving. “In the past, I haven't voted for it because I've always felt like we've needed to be doing better on our funding for public education,” she said, “but in the last several years, we've increased our funding for public education by over $3 billion.”

She also noted that vouchers could be used for students to go from one public school system to another, and signed on as a co-sponsor to Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher bill so she would have a say on the topic. “I'd rather be at the table with the conversations than on the outside where I can't nudge someone.”

Massey grew up in a politically powerful family and has impeccable GOP credentials. She is the daughter of the late Knoxville Mayor and U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Sr. and the sister of former longtime U.S. Rep. John J. “Jimmy” Duncan Jr. 

She didn’t jump directly into politics after graduating from the University of Tennessee, though. She immersed herself in volunteer and nonprofit work. For 25 years, she was the executive director of the Sertoma Center, which provides services to adults with intellectual disabilities. She said the commitment to service instilled by her family prompted her to run for the seat in the 2011 special election.

Massey won that race to replace Jamie Woodson, who stepped away from the Legislature to take the reins of State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), an education research and advocacy nonprofit. She hasn’t had a close call since then.

The incumbent said she’s been endorsed by Lee, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler. She said she tells voters she works hard, listens, shows respect and gets results.

“To me, it's about getting things done,” Massey said. “It's making a difference in people's lives.”