B. Bate died, prompting a scramble to fill his vacant seat. Former Governor Robert Love Taylor had for years campaigned unsuccessfully for a Senate seat, and believed he should be next in line. Frazier, however, also wanted the Senate seat, and while Taylor was still out of state on a speaking tour, Frazier quickly convened the General Assembly and had himself elected, then resigned the governorship. The Speaker of the Tennessee Senate, John I. Cox (who had helped engineer Frazier's election), succeeded him as governor. Taylor was outraged by Frazier's actions, and suggested that Frazier, Cox, and U.S. Senator Edward W. Carmack were conspiring to control the state Democratic Party. To appease Taylor's supporters, the party allowed Taylor to face Carmack in a primary in 1906 (the first Senate primary in state history), which Taylor won. That same year, the Democratic Party refused to nominate Cox for reelection as governor. As a senator, Frazier championed states' rights, and opposed most protective tariffs. He supported a federal income tax amendment and funding for highway construction. He campaigned for a second term in 1911, but state Democrats, irritated by the intra-party divisions created by his first election, refused to nominate him. After leaving the Senate, Frazier returned to Chattanooga, where he practiced law with his son, James B. Frazier Jr. (1890–1978), in the firm, Frazier and Frazier. He died on March 28, 1937, and is buried in the city's Forest Hills Cemetery. Family Frazier's great-grandfather, Samuel Frazier, and grandfather, Abner Frazier, both fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. Samuel Frazier was of Scottish descent, while his wife, Rebecca Julian, was of French Huguenot descent. An uncle of James B. Frazier, Dr. Beriah Frazier (1812–1886), served as Mayor of Chattanooga in 1841, and represented Knox County at the East Tennessee Convention of 1861. Frazier married Louise Douglas Keith in 1883. They had four children: Anne, James Jr., Thomas, and Louise. James B. Frazier Jr. represented Tennessee's 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1963. See also List of governors of Tennessee Notes References External links James B. Frazier Papers, University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries Frazier & Frazier Papers , University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries 1856 births 1937 deaths People from Pikeville, Tennessee Democratic Party governors of Tennessee Politicians from Chattanooga, Tennessee Democratic Party United States senators from Tennessee University of Tennessee alumni Tennessee lawyers 20th-century