Brother Lowe Finney (’98), left, talks with supporters on the campaign trail this fall.
Tennessee Kappa alumnus Lowe Finney (’98) has won in the District 27 Tennessee Senate race. Brother Finney becomes the first chapter alumnus to serve in the state legislature. The 31-year old Dresden, Tenn. native won in two of the three counties represented by the 27th District.
Winning in his first ever campaign for public office was no easy task. Brother Finney had stiff competition from incumbent senator and former UT Martin football coach Don McLeary. The final tally, announced late Tuesday, put him 477 votes ahead of McLeary out of 53,125 votes cast in Madison, Gibson and Carroll counties.
Brother Finney graduated from UT Martin with a bachelor’s degree in Business in the spring of 1998. He then went on to the Saint Louis University for his law degree. An attorney by trade, Finney teaches at Lambuth University. He also serves as the Chapter Counselor for the Tennessee Zeta SigEp chapter at the university.
More from the Jackson Sun: Finney takes McLeary’s state Senate seat | Video
About the Tennessee Senate
The upper house of Tennessee’s General Assembly is called the Senate. The state is divided into 33 senatorial districts, from each of which one senator is elected. Senators are elected to four-year terms with those from even-numbered districts being elected in the same general election, and those representing odd-numbered districts being elected two years later. Thus, about half of the 33 senators are standing for election at the same time. Re-election to the Senate is constitutionally permissible, as it is in the House, and there is no limit on the number of terms a legislator may serve.
About Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon, the nation’s largest fraternity, was founded at Richmond College, now the University of Richmond, on November 1, 1901, on the cardinal principles of Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love. Today, the Fraternity has grown to more than 255,000 lifetime members, including 14,000 undergraduates on 260 campuses in the United States. Tennessee Kappa, the designation for the SigEp chapter at the University of Tennessee at Martin, was chartered in the spring of 1995.