Gray Sasser (submitted photo) [Click to enlarge]

Gray Sasser, chairman of Tennessee Democratic Party and son of former U.S. senator and U.S. ambassador to China Jim Sasser, will be keynote speaker for the Bedford County Democratic Party Banquet, 6:30 p.m. April 15 at the American Legion hall in Shelbyville.

Tickets are $15 and may be reserved by calling Debbie Atterholt, (931) 205-5990, or e-mailing atterholt@hotmail.com .

Prior to becoming chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party in January 2007, Gray Sasser served four years as legal counsel for the party and for the firm Miller & Martin in Nashville, where he specialized in corporate and international law, including mergers, acquisitions and investments.

He began his involvement in Democratic politics by campaigning with his father in 1976. Sasser is a graduate of Princeton University, with a major in history; Vanderbilt University School of Law; Beijing University Chinese Language Center; and London School of Economics and Political Science.

Sasser and his wife Kathryn, a lawyer with the Nashville firm of Walker, Tipps & Malone, make their home in Nashville.

The Democratic banquet has been held later in the year in the past.