Len Silverman to Challenge Cortney Rogers for seat formerly held by Debra Maggart

Len Silverman

Len Silverman of Hendersonville has announced he is running in the Republican primary for the 45th district State House of Representatives seat. He is challenging incumbent State Representative Courtney Rogers.

Rogers defeated Representative Debra Maggart, who was the Republican whip in the House, in the 2012 Republican primary in a bitter campaign focused on extending gun rights. The Tennessee Firearms Association did not deem Republican Debra Maggart sufficiently pro-gun and they spend an unprecedented $155,000 plus dollars in negative campaigning and disparaged her A+ rated, pro-Second Amendment voting record.  They said she was for gun control, for shredding the Constitution, and compared her to President Barack Obama. That campaign got national attention and was used as an example of the power of the gun lobby.

Until last month there was speculation that Maggart might seek a rematch and challenge Rogers in the 2014 primary. In mid-November however, she announced she would join a Nashville lobbying firm ending that speculation.


Silverman  owns a Huntington Learning Center tutoring franchise in Hendersonville. He is Chairman of the  Board of Directors for COMPASS, a foundation that helps raise funds for Sumner County Schools.  Until recently, COMPASS was headed-up by former State Representative Debra Maggart.

He is also Chairman of the Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber Foundation, Chairman of the Sumner County United Way, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Pope John Paul II High School.

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