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On the campaign trail, I often joke that I have plenty of the right kind of experience to be the best candidate for this office: I have experience working for minimum wage and clocking out of one job just to go to another. I have experience receiving surprise outrageous medical bills, and so on. My experiences navigating this economy fit more with the average Tennessean than the retirement-age politician with a side hustle in real estate that we so often see elected to a higher office.

I am farmer and as a board member of the Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers Coalition I advocate for things like small farm profitability, land access, and resources for young and beginning farmers. Agriculture is the foundation of Tennessee’s economy and culture, and we need folks in office who will fight for the interests of all farmers.

Before the farm I worked with the Small Business Administration for several years, providing free resources and mentorship to current and aspiring business owners. I learned a lot there, including how to operate on a shoestring budget. The most important lesson I learned: when you serve the public, the public means everybody. We did not turn people away because some board decided their business idea wasn’t viable. There were no means tests like income or household size. If you put in the work, we helped you. The return on this small investment was incredible. The SBA is an example of how government can work well, work efficiently, and work for everybody.

Eliminating the grocery tax and raising the minimum wage would be a good start in helping many Tennesseans. Investing more in community colleges, state colleges and trade schools. Expanding Medicaid and rural health programs would help keep and bring good paying health care jobs to places where hospitals are closing in danger of closing.

I think it is important to audit and eliminate regulations that favor big business while burdening small businesses. This will be very important for small businesses and growers once Tennessee legalizes cannabis. Another example of burdensome regulation is the state requirement that a farmer selling cuts of meat must have that meat be USDA inspected (more expensive) rather than just TDA inspected.

The city of Oak Ridge should be open and transparent with the general public about developers and potential developments coming in and encourage the formation of Community Benefit Agreements. In Roane County, I heard that the commissioners here negotiated some level of investment in our public schools from the incoming nuclear companies. The same should be done in Oak Ridge if it has not been done already.

Too often, tax payers are expected to handle the cost burden of infrastructure, increased traffic, and hastily built housing in hopes that the good paying jobs a business promises will materialize. These businesses often over-promise and under-deliver. It is the job of our local elected officials to make sure this growth benefits the public as much as it benefits the businesses we’re subsidizing with tax breaks and other incentives. Can they help ensure that local and union labor is used? Can they push these industries to share in some of the costs they’re creating for the rest of us?

I mentioned the Medicaid expansion in the previous question and that will be key to stabilizing the shaky healthcare system here in Tennessee. More investment in community health clinics and mobile health clinics will be key to expanding access. The state has also recently launched support programs for families dealing with dementia—we should make sure this gets the funding it needs because the reality is that our rural areas and small towns have aging populations.

Since Roe was overturned, maternal healthcare in Tennessee has gone from awful to bordering on a crisis. I can tell you firsthand that the rural clinic I go to cannot handle the amount of basic care female patients need. The number of new OBGYN’s choosing to practice in our state has plummeted. We need abortion access back. As for rural areas, maternal health is part of the broader healthcare crisis in our state. Sweetwater Hospital has closed its maternity ward this year. The new “medical ethics” law makes it harder for patients to get care.

Overall, we need a single payer, universal healthcare system, but that is part of a bigger fight.

I do not support the voucher scam. It is a drain on the taxpayers, it creates a two-tiered system for our kids, and it transfers our public wealth to the private hands of a few.

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