Future901 Endorses Representative Dwayne Thompson

In 2014, I expressed to friends of mine that I wanted to be more involved in local government. For many Democrats, 2014 galvanized them and made them stand up and feel like they needed to do something. For me, it was the “Vote No on 1” campaign. Friends that knew a lot more about local politics introduced me to Dwayne Thompson. It was my first experience knocking on doors and talking to voters. Even though Dwayne didn’t win in 2014, he said to me “I’m going to come back and win in 2016.”

I volunteered with other campaigns between then, but in 2016 I spent as much time as I could volunteering for Dwayne. You get to know a lot about a person knocking on doors with them. It was his faith that pushed him to work to the point of exhaustion. That year, no one gave him a shot. Everyone thought it was impossible to win in the suburbs. But working next to him, I knew he was putting in the hard work that would put him over the top. I recall one instance volunteering at the Agri-Center during early voting when a voter walked up to Dwayne to argue about divisive issues. Dwayne listened, and talked to the voter, and asked him about the issues he cared about. Then he talked to the voter about his stance on making sure public-school funds weren’t being funneled toward private education.  The voter agreed with him and said, “You’re the only Democrat I’ll be voting for.” On election day, myself and other volunteers showed up at 6:30 AM at Dwayne’s house. I stood all day at polls talking to voters about the commonsense issues Dwayne was running on. We went back to Dwayne’s house and waited on election results. And waited and waited and waited. On my way home, I got the call that Dwayne had won by a mere 365 votes. I was elated.

Since that time, I have been proud to see the Dwayne at work.  He has been an advocate for education, opposing vouchers and supporting teachers.  He has pushed for us to expand TennCare and opposed Gov. Lee’s push to cut benefits and reimbursement to doctors through “block granting.”  However, it is in his day-to-day work that Dwayne is the most impressive.  He quietly listens to all sides.  He is diligent in hearing the concerns of his constituents and then doing the hard work of getting those concerns addressed.  In an age of politicians that love to hear themselves speak, Dwayne is the rare one that wants to listen and understand what folks need.  

There are many things that make Dwayne stand out as an excellent elected official. Dwayne knows his district better than any office holder I know. Not only down to the street, but down to the occupants of many houses. He’s taken that time to make those important face to face connections with people. He has worked across the aisle in a Legislature with a Republican super majority to get bills passed that make the lives of Shelby Countians better. He works every day to make Shelby County and Tennessee better for all citizens.

For all these reasons, Dwayne Thompson has earned another two years as the Representative for District 96.  I urge you to vote for him and help his campaign.