John James Duncan Jr. (born July 21, 1947) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1988 to 2019. An attorney, former Criminal Court judge, and former long serving member of the Army National Guard, published author and newspaper columnist. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Early life, education, and legal career
Duncan was born in Lebanon, Tennessee, in Wilson County, Tennessee. His "paternal grandparents were small-acreage farmers in Scott County, which in 1861 left Tennessee, refusing to follow the Volunteer State into the Confederacy, and declared itself 'the Free and Independent state of Scott.'" Duncan's parents were Lois (Swisher) and John Duncan Sr., who "hitchhiked into Knoxville with five dollars in his pocket,' and after an education at the University of Tennessee was elected mayor of Knoxville and then congressman."
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Duncan's father, John Sr., who had represented the Knoxville, Tennessee based 2nd District since 1965, died in June 1988. Jimmy Duncan won the Republican nomination to succeed him. He ran in and won two elections on November 8, 1988. The first election being a special election for the balance of his father's 12th term, followed by a regular election for a full two-year term following his father's term. He was re-elected every two years from then until his retirement from a district that had been held continuously by Republicans (or their antecedents) since 1859, and by a Duncan since his father was first elected in 1964. He never faced a serious or well-funded challenge for reelection, and was reelected without major-party opposition in four consecutive elections (1994 through 2000). For four the general elections from 1990 to 2000 Duncan's primary challenger came from an independent candidate or a member of the Libertarian Party. On the occasions he did face major-party opposition, he only dropped below 70% of the vote twice, during the special and regular elections in 1988, while surpassing the 80% threshold 5 times and once exceeding 90% of the total vote.
In 2017, he announced he would not seek re-election in the 2018 election for Tennessee's 2nd District, and would instead retire. His eventual replacement Tim Burchett, who was the Knox County, Tennessee Mayor at the time announced his intention to run for the seat shortly thereafter.
Electoral history
|-
| colspan=13 |
|-
!Year
!Winning candidate
!Party
!Votes
!Pct
!Opponent
!Party
!Votes
!Pct
|-
|1988
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 99,631
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 56.23%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| Dudley W. Taylor
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 77,540
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 43.76%
|-
|1990
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 62,797
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 80.57%
| Peter Herbert
| Independent
| 15,127
| 19.41%
|-
|1992
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 148,377
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 72.24%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| Troy Goodale
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 52,887
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 25.75%
|-
|1994
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 128,937
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 90.49%
| Various
| Independent
| 13,545
| 9.51%
|-
||1996
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 150,953
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 70.68%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| Stephen Smith
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 61,020
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 28.57%
|-
||1998
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 90,860
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 88.64%
| Various
| Independent
| 11,642
| 11.36%
|-
||2000
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 187,154
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 89.34%
| Kevin J. Rowland
| Libertarian
| 22,304
| 10.65%
|-
||2002
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 146,887
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 78.98%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| John Greene
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 37,035
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 19.91%
|-
||2004
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 215,795
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 79.07%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| John Greene
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 52,155
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 19.11%
|-
||2006
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 157,095
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 77.72%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| John Greene
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 45,025
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 22.28%
|-
||2008
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 227,128
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 78.12%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| Bob Scott
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 63,639
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 21.89%
|-
||2010
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 141,796
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 81.78%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| Dave Hancock
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 25,400
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 14.65%
|-
||2012
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 196,894
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 74.44%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| Troy Goodale
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 54,522
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 20.61%
|-
||2014
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 120,883
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 77.44%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| Bob Scott
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 37,621
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 24.10%
|-
||2016
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| Jimmy Duncan
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"|Republican
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 212,455
| style="background:#ffb3b3;"| 75.65%
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| Stuart Starr
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"|Democratic
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 68,401
| style="background:#b3d9ff;"| 24.35%
Tenure
thumb|right|Duncan with [[President of the United States|President George W. Bush and U.S. Senator Bill Frist aboard Air Force One in 2001]]
thumb|300px|U.S. Senators [[Bob Corker, Richard Burr, Lamar Alexander, and Congressman John Duncan (third from right) among others at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2009]]
Duncan voted against authorizing the 2003 War in Iraq based on opposition to what he believed to be an unnecessary foreign involvement. He also opposed and voted against a June 2006 House declaration in support of the war. He was one of the most conservative Republicans to do so. Duncan later remarked that the Iraq War vote had been