Tennessee House Speaker announces resignation

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMC) - Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada is resigning from his position.

Casada released the following statement:

“When I return to town on June 3, I will meet with Caucus leadership to determine the best date for me to resign as Speaker so that I can help facilitate a smooth transition.”

Monday night, Tennessee House Republicans cast a vote of no confidence in House Speaker Glen Casada, who has been the center of several growing scandals, including lewd text messages he sent about women.

Governor Bill Lee called Casada’s decision to resign the right one.

Speaker Casada has made the right decision, and I look forward to working with the legislature to get back to conducting the people's business and focusing on the issues that matter most to our state.
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) May 21, 2019

Casada’s Chief of Staff Cade Cothren resigned earlier this month in the wake of the alleged racist and lewd texts regarding women, and admitted cocaine use in his legislative office. Days later, Speaker Casada said he wasn’t leaving his leadership post – calling lewd text conversations that surfaced “locker room talk.”

"I'm sorry that I did it, and I'm embarrassed I did it, but it's not going to happen again," Speaker Casada said to WTN-FM in Nashville.

He said the 2016 conversation in question was among himself, his former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren, and a third person who Casada described as a disgruntled former employee who vowed revenge.

Friday, Casada resigned from his job selling pharmaceuticals for Merck.

All this led to nearly a dozen Republicans calling for Casada to resign.