What's wrong and how we can fix it

I believe that the politics of our state must begin with the lived experiences of its people. Because I know that for all that is great about Tennessee, we are still a community that struggles to live up to its highest ideals.

 

We're still a state where rural workers are excluded by an economy whose daily transformations disrupt people in industries as old as the republic itself.

 

We're still a state that has communities without hospitals, schools without books, and teachers without the respect of their government and its leaders.

 

And we're still a state whose opioid epidemic rages on and too often destroys our sons and daughters' future, while our government stands by idly—either unwilling or unable to act.

 

I know that I alone cannot fix what is wrong in our state, and I’m not naive enough to think that government can as well.

 

We will always be a place where individual responsibility is the pinnacle, but with a small change in priorities, we can make a real difference.

 

I’m a citizen and a citizen-politician who holds the conviction in my heart that more work is left to be done and the time for a new voice and a new generation of leadership has arrived in our nation’s politics.