Since last year’s mass shooting in Nashville, the Covenant School moms have been front and center in the battle for sensible gun laws in Tennessee. I’m here for it.

Initially I was bothered by the fact that these moms kept reiterating that they’re Republican. How could they stand right next to the Democratic lawmakers who were fighting for them and even physically comforting them as they cried, and in the same breath imply that they’d keep right on voting for the party that protects special interests over children every time?

It took me a while to consider that I’m older than they are, that I came of age when Tennessee was a swing state. While I’ve always been progressive, I considered myself an independent until the Republican Party became so extreme, so corrupt, so mean-spirited that they forced me to pick a side.

These Covenant moms are cultural Republicans. They’re products of an ecosystem dominated by Evangelical Christianity, which in turn dominates Tennessee’s Republican party. It’s hard to break with a culture you’re immersed in. 

I hope some of them run for office as Republicans. They’ll appeal to other cultural Republicans, people who reflexively vote R but also want reasonable gun legislation. If we get moms like these in office—women who care about children and have seen up close how special interests corrupt our politics—it might not matter what they call themselves.

By their own admission, they’ve just started paying attention to Tennessee politics. If they’ll fight for children in the schools, maybe they’ll fight for them in the foster-care system, in crumbling schools, or wherever they’re endangered.

These women live in a very different world than most Tennesseans, including me. But they’re not scared of the gun lobby, which is more than I can say for any Republican in the Tennessee General Assembly. I’m happy to give them the benefit of the doubt.