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Beverly Marrero

As a member of the State House representing District 89 (parts of Shelby County), Beverly Marrero established herself as a maverick legislator, always voting her conscience regardless of the potential political ramifications. In 2005, she was one of only seven members of the House to vote against a measure to hold a referendum to amend the Tennessee Constitution to ban gay marriage. In April 2006, she voted in subcommittee to kill another proposed amendment that would have removed from the State constitution all guarantees of a right to an abortion. Also in 2006, she sponsored a bill to stop state executions for three years so that a newly created committee could perform a study of the fairness of the administration of the death penalty.

A real estate consultant by trade, Marrero first won a seat in the House during a 2003 special election to replace Representative Carol Chumney, who resigned from the House after her election to the Memphis City Council. She won election to full terms in 2004 and 2006 by margins of 56% to 44% and 67% to 33%, respectively. In the House, she served as chair of the Family Justice Subcommittee and as secretary of the Children and Family Affairs Committee. She was also a member of the Government Operations Committee, the Public Health and Family Assistance Subcommittee, the Domestic Relations Subcommittee, and the Health and Human Resources Committee.

After Senator Steve Cohen won election to the United States House of Representatives in the Fall of 2006, Marrero decided to run for his vacated District 30 seat in the State Senate. On March 13, 2007, she handily defeated Larry Parrish, a well-known Shelby County attorney and social conservative, by a margin of 57% to 43%. In the Senate, she serves as the vice chair of the Government Operations Committee and as a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Marrero began in politics by going door-to-door in her neighborhood for John F. Kennedy. She worked in Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio, and New Hampshire for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign, and at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, she represented Tennessee on the Rules Committee. She is a member of the Tennessee Economic Council on Women.

Contact:
District 30 - Part of Shelby County

District Address
243 Hawthorne St
Memphis, TN 38112
 
Nashville Address
3 Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243-0030
Phone (615) 741-9128
Staff Contact: Kristen Case

Email: sen.beverly.marrero@legislature.state.tn.us