Beth Harwell

Beth Halteman Harwell (born July 24, 1957, in Norristown, Pennsylvania) is the current Speaker of the House in the Tennessee House of Representatives. She serves as Tennessee State Representative from Nashville and former Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party from 2001 through 2004. A longtime member of the Tennessee House of Representatives since 1988, Harwell was a ranking Republican in the House (former Minority Whip) and Commerce Committee chairwoman. She is the first woman to serve as Tennessee's Speaker of the House.
In 1978 Harwell received her Bachelor of Arts from Lipscomb University. She received a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. She is married to Samuel Harwell. The couple has three children.
Harwell received the Small Business award from the National Federation of Independent Business. Her husband Sam Harwell is the founder of Big Time Toys, LLC.
Harwell explored a run for the 2006 U.S. Senate race; however she finally decided against seeking that seat. In May 2007 Harwell said that she was considering running in the 2010 state gubernatorial election.
In the 2008 presidential election, Harwell was the state co-chair for John McCain's presidential campaign. McCain won 56.9% of Tennessee's popular vote against Democrat Barack Obama. During the elections, the Republican Party gained control of both the Tennessee Senate and House for the first time since Reconstruction. In January 2009, Harwell was named chairwoman of the Commerce Committee. During here term there have been an number of allegations made about the handling of certain scandals, including the handling of the allegations of harassment by former Rep. Jeremy Durham, who was recently expelled from the legislature as well as misconduct by certain personnel including by an employee who allegedly raised their middle finger at a 2 year old child in the House.