Ron Ramsey

Ron Ramsey
Ramsey in 2006
49th Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee
Speaker of the Tennessee Senate
In office
January 20, 2007 – January 9, 2017
GovernorPhil Bredesen
Bill Haslam
Preceded byJohn Wilder
Succeeded byRandy McNally
Member of the Tennessee Senate
from the 4th district
In office
January 1997 – January 9, 2017
Preceded byJim Holcomb
Succeeded byJon Lundberg
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives
from the 1st district
In office
January 1993 – January 1997
Preceded byJim Holcomb
Succeeded bySteve Godsey
Personal details
Born
Ronald Lynn Ramsey

(1955-11-20) November 20, 1955 (age 68)
Johnson City, Tennessee, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Sindy Parker
(m. 1980)
Children3
EducationEast Tennessee State University (BS)

Ronald Lynn Ramsey (/ˈræmzi/; born November 20, 1955) is an American auctioneer, politician, and lobbyist, who served as the 49th lieutenant governor of Tennessee and speaker of the State Senate from 2007 to 2017. A Republican from Blountville in East Tennessee, Ramsey succeeded long-term Democratic Lieutenant Governor John S. Wilder in 2007, who had held the office of lieutenant governor since 1971.

Tennesseans do not elect their lieutenant governor; rather, the speaker of the Senate, who is first in the line of succession to the governor, is granted the title by statute.

Ron Ramsey announced that he would not seek re-election in 2016, and would instead retire from politics. State Representative Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) won the primary election on August 4, 2016, to take Ramsey's seat.