The people of Tennessee need help. Because for years, our state’s government has utterly failed to represent our interests. Blame needs to be pinned on our Republican representatives in Nashville, who hold supermajority control over the legislative branch.
Due to the failure of the GOP’s supermajority leadership, Tennessee is ranked as one of the worst states to live in, has the worst voter turnout in the nation, the poverty rate is one of the highest in the country, has the second highest inflation rate in the U.S., has one of the highest rates in the nation of residents without health insurance, and the shooting death rate is 50 percent higher than the country as a whole.
Clearly, we need some new leadership in our state’s capital. Thankfully, there are two women in Chattanooga that can make a difference, who are running for seats in the Tennessee State House. Allison Gorman and Kathy Lennon.
Allison Gorman is a native Tennessean, journalist, mother of three, and is running for Tennessee House District 26. Kathy Lennon is a lifelong Tennessean, teacher, former school board member, and is running for Tennessee House District 27.
Gorman and Lennon both plan to fully fund our public schools so that every child in Tennessee can receive a good education. They are both committed to creating an economy that benefits average hard working Tennesseans, not the wealthy few that the GOP supermajority currently supports. They are both determined to expand healthcare, while Republicans in Nashville refuse to expand Medicaid eligibility, even though forty other states in the nation have already done so. Gorman and Lennon both support common sense gun-laws and abortion policies that both sides of the political spectrum already agree on, but the current Republican supermajority will not even consider.
On the flip side, their opponents are both extremists who want to continue to take Tennessee backwards. Gorman is going up against incumbent Greg Martin, who has voted yes to arming our public schoolteachers with guns and yes to giving a $1.9 billion franchise tax-break for property-rich corporations.
Lennon is going up against newcomer Michele Reneau, who defeated the incumbent Patsy Hazlewood in the August primary, and ran against her for being too moderate. We do not need another extremist in the Tennessee State House.
Electing Allison Gorman and Kathy Lennon will help restore balance back to Tennessee. For years, the Tennessee General Assembly was split between Republican and Democratic lawmakers. But ever since the 2010 election, Tennessee has essentially been a one-party ruled state. And Tennesseans have suffered for it.
But as citizens of a democracy, Tennesseans have the power and a duty to correct our un-balanced state government and say goodbye to extremism. We can and we will save ourselves from our own downfall. Of course, it’s probably going to take many more elections for us to truly save our beloved state. However, if we begin the process of turning the arc of history now, then true change may come sooner than expected.
So if you live in district 26, remember to vote for Allison Gorman. And if you live in district 27, remember to vote for Kathy Lennon. And let us all change our history, with the power of our democratic voice on Nov. 5.
Brandon Denley