Complex sentence: Lea contended for the 1916 Democratic nomination for the seat but was defeated by Kenneth McKellar, a colleague of Memphis political "boss" E. H. Crump, who went on to serve six terms as Tennessee's longest-serving senator.
Split into simpler sentences: Lea contended for the 1916 Democratic nomination for the seat but was defeated by Kenneth McKellar, a colleague of Memphis political "boss" E. H. Crump. Mckellar went on to serve six terms, and is Tennessee's longest-serving senator.