Alan Woodruff, an attorney in northeastern Tennessee, will be the Democratic nominee for U.S. House this year in Tennessee’s First District. He is the only person who filed for the Democratic nomination. The First District is considered a stronghold for the Republican Party. In 2010 the Democratic nominee in this district polled 17.1% and the Republican nominee, Phil Roe, polled 80.8%.

Woodruff is the attorney for the pending lawsuit Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, which won in U.S. District Court on February 3, 2012. The decision of the U.S. District Court not only struck down the Tennessee ballot access law for newly-qualifying parties, it resulted in the Green Party and the Constitution Party being placed on the 2012 ballot. Woodruff is defending this decision in the 6th circuit, where the state has asked for a stay of the order that put those two parties on the ballot.

Woodruff had also won parts of a ballot access decision against three New Mexico laws earlier, including striking down the law that forbids parties from nominating someone who has not been a member for the preceding several months, if the party in question does not desire that restriction on itself. Woodruff also was instrumental in lobbying the 2011 session of the New Mexico legislature for some favorable ballot access changes, including a later petition deadline for independent candidates, and a reduction in the number of signatures needed for newly-qualifying parties in midterm years.