MARYVILLE, Tenn. – Inside a coffee shop — as scents of ground beans permeate the air and Chris Stapleton’s rendition of "Tennessee Whiskey" plays on overhead speakers — former Gov. Phil Bredesen sits at a table, clasps his hands and listens.

Although he’s the Democratic nominee for an open U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee, anyone who stumbles onto this gathering of a dozen women would never know it. There’s no campaign literature. No bumper stickers. No signs or volunteer sheets. Of the four public events Bredesen has on this August day, only one would be overtly political.

“This is not a political event in the sense that somebody asks you what party you belong to or who you’re going to vote for,” he tells the women, who later share their views on the nation’s health care system.

“It really is for me just a chance to kind of hear and understand one of the things that I very much want to work on in Washington if I’m successful.”

Such gatherings are giving the 74-year-old Bredesen an opportunity to travel a state that has undergone significant changes since he last appeared on the ballot in 2006, when he won all 95 counties in his re-election bid for governor.

Bredesen's opponent:How Marsha Blackburn hopes to win Tennessee's US Senate race

Complete coverage:Tennessee's 2018 campaign for US Senate

Since then, politics in Tennessee and on the federal level has changed. The GOP has a supermajority in the statehouse, controls both U.S. Senate seats and holds seven out of Tennessee's nine congressional seats. President Donald Trump carried all but three of the state's counties in 2016.

Despite such realities, Bredesen — donning a dark blue pinstriped suit, baby blue button-up, striped tie and gold-colored tri-star cufflinks — sees, in some ways, Tennessee as relatively unchanged.

“The people are the same and the same issues,” Bredesen says in an interview. “I think that the abandonment by them of the Democratic Party as the vehicle to address their issues has been pretty dramatic, but I blame us, the Democrats, for that, not them.”

His criticism of his own party is hardly new. The former Nashville mayor has been a vocal critic of national Democrats — including for the manner in which they implemented the Affordable Care Act. He equally frustrated his party for reforms he made while governor to the state’s Medicaid and workers’ compensation programs.

Although Bredesen’s message to the women in the coffee shop may be subtle, he hopes he can motivate people — be it at a roundtable discussion, a political forum, while serving chili or at a concert — to look beyond his party affiliation.

And he knows that’s what it will take for him to win against U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican nominee, in the Nov. 6 general election.

“This is a campaign in which I’m going to have to be disciplined and focused to win it,” he says, acknowledging he’s going to need support from Democrats, a “bunch of independents” and business professional Republicans.

As such, he avoids openly criticizing Trump, makes overt appeals to Republicans and tries to spend the majority of his time talking about issues rather than the daily news out of Washington, D.C.

'Equally offensive to both parties'

A significant portion of Bredesen’s campaign has been reminding voters of his time as governor and to a lesser extent his tenure as Nashville mayor.

He reminds a gathering in Crossville of 40 or so people approaching retirement or already retired of his time leading the state.

“If you look at what I did as governor, I think was equally offensive to both parties during that time," he said.

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Although the event was initially billed as a chance to talk about Social Security and other issues facing seniors, Bredesen effortlessly fields questions on his views on privatizing the military’s involvement in Afghanistan, child separations at the southern border of the United States and the national debt.

As he campaigns, Bredesen regularly derides Congress for its inability to tackle major issues. He’s called for federal action to address expanding broadband service and overhauling the student loan system.

Related:Phil Bredesen proposes overhaul of federal student loan system

Related:Phil Bredesen: Tennessee Valley Authority should help expand broadband to rural areas

Answering a question about how to cure the divisiveness between the two major parties, he admits, “I have no magic bullet.”

He says a variation of the magic bullet line multiple times throughout the day.

“One of the ways you do it is you start sending some people up there … whose attitude is 'let’s get some things done' as opposed to 'let’s get a fight started,' " he says.

In a separate interview, Bredesen says people's desire to “stop the shouting” is among the top issues he hears while campaigning. Given that, he says, there’s a clear difference between him and Blackburn.

Blackburn’s campaign has taken a different approach. In June she told Republicans at their annual fundraiser that a vote for her would give them “one more chance to vote against Hillary Clinton and her friends.”

Related:Marsha Blackburn attacks Phil Bredesen at GOP fundraiser

Bredesen says other top issues for him in the race include jobs and health care, which includes addressing the opioid crisis — a topic that comes up throughout the day — and the rising cost of prescription medications.

During an hourlong morning discussion with law enforcement, experts from recovery centers and others at the Mt. Juliet Community Center, Bredesen asks for information about the addiction treatment process and insurance coverage.

As he listens, the sound of basketball players’ shoes hitting hardwood leaks into the room as 17 people hash out ideas with Bredesen, who has a copy of that day's Tennessean, which features a story about the number of people who died from drug overdoses in 2017.

“I think there’s a growing consensus across party lines that this is a problem that needs to be dealt with in some fashion,” he says.

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Drug deaths:Drug overdoses killed more Tennesseans than ever last year, fentanyl deaths up 70 percent

Bredesen wants to bring 'some common sense' back to Washington

After leaving office in 2011, Bredesen says he consciously left the limelight.

“I hate these people that are in politics and they just sort of can’t drop it and they hang around,” he says.

He served on a few national commissions, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and worked as chairman to build up Silicon Ranch, a Nashville-based solar company. Earlier this year, Silicon Ranch struck a deal worth as much as $217 million with Shell, making the global oil and gas company the largest shareholder of the solar business.

Related:Bredesen's Silicon Ranch solar company gains Shell investment of up to $217M

To relax, he and his wife, Andrea Conte, spent time traveling. One of their favorite places was Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where they own a house.

Bredesen says until U.S. Sen. Bob Corker announced his plans last September to retire, he had not considered running for office again. And even then, he initially balked at the idea, despite being encouraged by Democrats to consider a bid.

Corker's decision:Sen. Bob Corker will not seek re-election next year

Related:Former Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen considers Tennessee US Senate bid

This year's race marks the fourth time Bredesen has run statewide and his eighth campaign for public office in Tennessee — including his successful bids for Nashville mayor and governor. Before moving to Tennessee, Bredesen lost a bid for the Massachusetts state Senate in 1969.

Bredesen says he entered this year's race because he felt he “had some unfinished business.” His entrance almost immediately put Tennessee’s Senate seat in play for the first time in decades.

At an event in Sevierville, the only overtly political event of the day, with supporters donning Bredesen stickers, he jokes that he “failed miserably” at retirement.

“Andrea and I talked about it a lot, and we just think it’s a very important thing to do to try to bring some common sense back to what’s going on in Washington,” he says to cheers and applause.

At the Crossville event, Conte calls his bid for the U.S. Senate the “most important race of his life.”

Although Tennessee is one of a handful of states Democrats are eyeing to potentially change the balance of power in the Senate, Bredesen frequently downplays such possibilities.

He knows the race will be close — several polls show Blackburn and Bredesen in a dead heat.

More:Tennessee U.S. Senate race polls: Phil Bredesen, Marsha Blackburn vie to replace Bob Corker

“I feel good about it, but it’s definitely going to be close and any help you can give me …would be very, very much appreciated,” he says after trading his tie and suit jacket for a green apron.

Bredesen's effort to appeal to his supporters while serving chili was typical retail politics.

But he hopes — in a time defined by partisanship and Republican dominance on the state and federal level — that a disciplined campaign focused on issues and experience can send a Tennessee Democrat to Washington once again.

Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.

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About Phil Bredesen

Age: 74

Career: Tennessee governor, 2003-2011; Nashville mayor, 1991-1999

Hometown: Nashville

Campaign website: www.bredesen.com