The senate district encompassed Benton, Decatur, Henry, Henderson, Lake, Obion, Perry, Stewart, and Weakley counties.
Herron was the 9th Governor of the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature, a statewide organization of college students.
He served for many years as adjunct faculty at Vanderbilt University's law and divinity schools where he taught courses he created.
He helped found and served as the co-chair of FaithfulDemocrats.com, an online community for Democrats of Christian faith.
Herron was first elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1986 to fill Governor Ned McWherter's seat.
Herron was known for his work ethic (he attended every legislative session for 26 years except the day his youngest son was being born), his debating skills, and his strong advocacy for those he called "the working people and the hurting people".
His work as chairman was categorized as successful, despite challenging times with a divided State Executive Committee and Democratic superminorities in the Tennessee General Assembly.
Herron set records in Jackson Day fundraising and spoke out with unprecedented numbers of op-ed essays in major newspapers in the state.
In January 2015, Democratic activist and former candidate for State Senate Mary Mancini was elected to succeed Herron.