This includes access to abortion and gender-affirming care. Any medical decision about a person’s body should be discussed solely between them and their doctor. Any attempt to restrict access to healthcare for moral reasons creates barriers that have deadly consequences. This includes the GOP Supermajority’s reluctance to expand Medicaid in TN which has forced rural hospitals to close and doctors to leave the state for fear of prosecution.

The parents in District 34 want public schools that use scientifically proven methods to prepare the children for their future and encourage a life-long love of learning. Every neighborhood school should have well-paid and well-trained teachers and counselors to support our kids’ educational needs and emotional well-being, including debt-free school lunch and smaller class sizes in buildings that are in good repair.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest energy monopoly in the nation, has ravaged our ecosystems and exploited the people for far too long. Just this year, TVA went against the EPA and is moving forward with building a natural gas plant in East TN. Green groups have blasted TVA’s gas proposal as both expensive and out of step with U.S. climate goals.

I also see incredible potential for a robust recycling industry in TN, an industry that could create thousands of jobs and keep valuable material out of the landfill. This will take a waste management reformation and I believe that TN is ready for it.

We should be writing laws that make it easier to register voters and guarantee access to the ballot box. I want to see same-day voter registration, a simpler process for voting rights restoration and guaranteed transportation to voting centers.

This year, our extreme GOP Supermaority passed a bill that gave a 1.7 billion dollar tax cut to corporations and voted down a bill that would abolish the grocery tax, a benefit we get once a year for about a month. So, we know that this is not a radical idea.

Rutherford County also needs the same option that the municipal governments get, charging Impact fees on developers. 22,000 acres of farmland have been sold in Rutherford County (1.5 million in all of TN) to turn into developments but there is no way of paying for the growth except raising property taxes on existing homeowners.

We have commodified healthcare and housing to the point that huge populations of people have been left behind in the race to “record profits”. Homelessness and medical bankruptcy is on the rise. Most people are one diagnosis or accident away from ruin. Life sustaining medication is too expensive, and our population is getting older without any hope of retirement. Our children are suffering from food insecurity, the threat of school shootings and loneliness but nothing is being done on a policy level to alleviate their suffering and ensure the success of future generations.