This week has been ridiculous. And trying.

This week legislation was introduced in the State House that would prohibit expelled members from being reinstated by their voters. It was the second such bill filed this legislative session, a continuation of Republicans’ revenge campaign against Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who last year were expelled from—and reinstated to—the State House after using a megaphone on the House floor to join protesters’ demands for stronger gun laws.

Also this week, Jones politely declined to lead the Pledge of Allegiance on the House floor. Heads exploded. Rep. Jeremy Faison demanded that Jones resign from office for un-American behavior. This was not long after Faison’s impassioned floor speech praising Gov. Bill Lee for supporting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s defiance of federal immigration law and a Supreme Court order.

I have to remind myself that the real travesty is our state reps wasting so much of their time and our tax money on nonsense—vengeful nonsense, performative nonsense, mean-spirited nonsense—rather than trying to fix any of the real problems we have in Tennessee. We have plenty.

But we also need to change the increasingly antidemocratic culture in the State House, where dissenting voices are silenced, whether they’re representatives or citizen protesters.

Nothing would make me happier than to go to the State House and uphold the American ideals my dad promised to uphold when he joined the Marines at age 17. That includes the democratic vision of liberty and justice for all.

My campaign launches March 7. I’ll be knocking doors from then till November 5. Please volunteer or donate if you can!

Allison
[email protected]