Senator Becky Massey

Becky Duncan Massey is a Republican member of the Tennessee Senate for the 6th district, encompassing Knoxville and Knox County. She was born on January 2, 1955, in Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. Her father was John Duncan, Sr., who served as Mayor of Knoxville from 1959 to 1964, and as a U.S. Representative for Tennessee’s 2nd congressional district from 1965 to 1988. Her elder brother, Jimmy, took up their father’s district at the federal level from 1988 to 2018. Their uncle, Joe D. Duncan, is a former Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge.

She received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1977. She is a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, a women’s fraternity. She served as a delegate to the 1988 Republican National Convention. In November 2011, she was elected to the sixth district in the Tennessee Senate, after Republican senator Jamie Woodson resigned. She defeated Democratic candidate Gloria Johnson with 64 percent of the vote. She was reelected in November 2012 and in November 2016.

She is the former executive director of the Sertoma Center, a company that provides residential and day services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Knoxville and now serves as a consultant. Massey is Past-President of the Tennessee Community Organizations, and a board member of the Knox County Community Action Committee. She is a former board member of the Dogwood Arts Festival, Overlook Mental Health Center, and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Massey is married to Morton Massey, a software developer, and they have two daughters, Courtney and Kristen. She has one granddaughter: Bailey. She attends a Presbyterian church, New Life Gathering.