Mike Kernell is a former member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, 1975-2012. Kernell is married with two children. Kernell, a Democrat, was first elected to the 89th Tennessee General Assembly in 1974. He lives in Memphis and represented the 93rd district. He was Vice Chair of the Government Operations Committee and was a member of the Conservation and Environment Committee, the Parks and Tourism and Wildlife Subcommittee. Kernell opposed 2004 cutbacks to TennCare, which he criticized for moving the burden of paying for medical care received by the uninsured to local taxpayers. In October 2008, Kernell's son David was indicted by a Tennesseegrand jury in connection with the unauthorized access ofRepublicanvice presidential candidateSarah Palin'sYahoo! Mail account. David entered a plea of not guilty, and Mike Kernell has denied knowing anything about the incident. David was convicted April 30, 2010 on two charges after four days of jury deliberation. He was found guilty of anticipatory obstruction of justice and unauthorized access to a computer, but was acquitted on a charge of wire fraud. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014, David participated in clinical research trials at the Cedars-Sinai Neurosciences Research Center in Los Angeles to help develop cures and treatments for other victims of MS. After release from BOP custody, he returned to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to finish an economics degree. He volunteered his programming skills expertise to Tennessee Voices for Children, a child advocacy nonprofit group. After moving to California, David developed facial recognition software that could identify children at risk of abuse. He died on February 1 or 2, 2018, at the age of 30, from complications related to progressive MS.
Re-election
In the November 4, 2008 elections, Mike Kernell defeated Republican candidate and former Homeland Security agent Tim Cook. Cook was again the Republican nominee in 2010, and Kernell again defeated him, with 6,478 votes to Cook's 4,518. Kernell's district was redrawn in 2012 by the Republican-controlled legislature, pitting him against fellow Democratic incumbent G. A. Hardaway in the August 2, 2012 Democratic primary. Kernell lost to Hardaway, ending his 38-year tenure. Hardaway won the primary with 2,927 votes, and was unopposed in the November 6, 2012 General election, winning with 16,126 votes.
