As a United States Senator, I wake up every day thinking I may be able to do something good for our country, and I go to bed most nights thinking that I have. It has been a great privilege to serve the people in Tennessee, as governor and in the United States Senate.

We owe a big thank you to Jeff Lyash. As he prepares to retire, our electric bills are among the cheapest and good jobs have moved here because power is reliable, @TVAnews’ debt is lower, and it leads in new nuclear plants. I hope the board can hire a successor who does as well.

Jimmy Carter believed that God put him on earth for a purpose and he spent a century living out that mission. Both in and out of public office he did his best to help others. We should be grateful for what he accomplished and the example he set.

Winfield Dunn showed Tennesseans who had never seen a Republican governor what one looked like and could do. And he did it remarkably well. He was a pioneer in building the statewide Republican party.

Winfield, Betty and their family brought credit to our state. He was a great friend to all us Alexanders. We admire his life and we will miss him.

In his public life, Joe Lieberman lived Sen. Howard Baker’s admonition, “The other fella might be right.” . That did not endear him to partisans but it made him a rare and valuable United States Senator.

He stuck to his principles but he was open to other points of view—sponsoring bipartisan senate breakfasts and crossing the aisle to work on legislation.

There will never be enough men and women in public life like Joe Lieberman. I will miss his friendship and the nation will miss his example.

I loved working with Dianne Feinstein. She had strong views, many different from mine, but she had been a mayor and I had been a governor and we both knew how to resolve differences.

For eight years we served as the senior members of opposite poitical parties on an Appropriations subcommittee and we almost always agreed on a bipartisan bill. When we went to dinner in D.C., I would play “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” for her on the piano.

Dianne was smart, independent and kind. I have great respect for her life of public service.

Don Sundquist was a loyal friend and a man with a good heart. He helped our state prosper & expanded health insurance for Tennesseans. He put the state ahead of his own political interests. The Alexander family sends to Martha & their family our sympathy & respect for Don’s life.

I am devastated to learn of the death of Kyle Jacobs, an enormously gifted songwriter and generous and caring friend of our family and of so many others. Our hearts go out to Kellie and to Kyle’s family and to their many friends in the Nashville community.

No city had a better mayor than Dale Kelley. For decades Dale’s big ideas lifted up Huntingdon and West Tennessee. He served our state with distinction and was one of the most admired basketball officials.

He was a dear friend and supporter for nearly fifty years. Honey and I send our sympathy and great respect for his life to Carlene and the Kelley family.

Funding from the new parking fee and from the Great American Outdoors Act enacted in 2020 will provide the most new financial support for the @GreatSmokyNPS since the park was created in 1934. #RestoreOurParks.

Every penny raised from the fee will be spent on creating a better visitor experience in the Smokies. Superintendent Cassius Cash and the National Park Service deserve thanks from all of us who enjoy the Smokies for solving a big problem with an obvious solution.

Thomas Zacharia’s life is the story of an enormously talented individual born in another country, attracted to the United States to earn advanced degrees and to raise a family, who then led one of our nation’s most important institutions, creating prestige and jobs for Americans.

As just one example of his contributions, without Thomas’ leadership the United States today surely would not have the fastest supercomputers in the world and they would not be in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

With deft legal skills and an easy manner, John Ryder helped build the Tennessee Republican Party over nearly a half century. He effectively served the Republican National Committee as its counsel and the people of this region as a TVA board member.

I admired John and counted him as a friend. Honey and I send our sympathy and respect for his life to Lain and their family.