Future901 Endorses Allen Creasy for House District 97
If we want to see Tennessee change directions, we need to flip TN State House seats. If you were to make a list of TN House seats vulnerable to flipping, State House 97 will be one of the top three on your list. This includes Berclair, parts of Bartlett and a little of Cordova. Over the past few years, demographic changes and sweat equity have made a once solidly “red” seat purple. Moreover, with the recent retirement of the district’s long-time incumbent, a focused Democrat candidate can win this seat. After watching this district for years, the Future901 Steering Committee unanimously agrees that Allan Creasy is the ideal candidate to make this happen.
On the issues, Creasy is consistent with Future901’s concerns. He is strongly supportive of fully funding and protecting our public schools. Education vouchers passed in the State House last year by only one vote, and there is every indication it will come back up in the next session. We believe Creasy, himself a public school graduate, will be a strong voice of reason against raiding public school funds,.
Alan has also been a vocal proponent of accepting TennCare expansion funds. The TN GOP’s refusal to expand TennCare has cost our state billions in federal funds and led us to lead the nation with the highest rate of bankruptcies from medical debt. Even worse, it has meant an estimated 1,000 Tennesseans died because of lack of access to healthcare. Equally as important as correcting our past mistakes in not expanding TennCare, Allan opposes the current untested scheme of block granting TennCare, which could cut another $1 billion in benefits to children, the disabled and seniors.
So, on the big issues Future 901 has highlighted, Creasy is consistent with a vision that moves the state forward. However, these issues alone will not be nearly enough to win in 97. In a district like 97 (which has more R than D voters) a successful candidate needs to attract some R voters to cross over. A successful candidate also has to work hard to turn out base D voters in greater numbers than have been typical for Tennessee. On both of these fronts, crossover appeal and organizing work, we think Creasy has what it takes to win.
As far as voter outreach, Allan Creasy has the right temperament and work ethic. The dirty secret of Dem politics in the south is that the party has written off people as “unreachable” much too easily. Reaching people is hard work and requires more humility than many of us usually likes to show. It is not going to occur through a mailer or a radio/tv spot. Reaching people means talking to them face to face, one voter after another. When you knock on someone’s door and actually listen to his or her problems, and then offer how you can help, amazing things happen. Some of those people we used to consider “unreachable” will be open to giving that candidate a shot.
A quick example illustrates who Allan Creasy is, both as a candidate and a person. While canvassing in 2017, he went to the home of a disabled vet. This veteran was wheelchair-bound and had lived in the same home for 30 years. Allan was the first canvasser to ever knock on his door. In talking to the vet, he learned how much difficulty the man had with this home, which was not wheelchair accessible. Allan also heard about how his medical problems made keeping up his home difficult and it had fallen into disrepair. Instead of walking to the next door, Allan asked how he could help and stayed involved. Allan organized a fundraiser on the man’s behalf, publicized the veteran’s issues, and attracted local businesses to chip in and help. In total, they raised $10,000 to repair and renovate the home, which is now completely wheelchair-accessible, allowing a veteran to live his retirement with dignity and independence.
That is just one story of the thousands of doors Allan visited. From what we can see, his outreach efforts are only going to be equally tireless in 2020 and it is the right way to win over voters.
That said, we are realists that in this age of polarized politics and in an R-favoring district it would be impossible to win an election by appealing to swing or crossover voters alone. A successful Dem candidate has to be able to identify and mobilize base voters. Success or failure in getting voters to the polls will be almost entirely on each campaign team.
In 2018, Allan ran against incumbent Jim Coley (R). He was the first Dem to attempt a run in 97 for over a decade, so he had to build a political infrastructure from scratch. A decade of neglect by the party left highly unreliable data on voters or party infrastructure to turn people out on election day. However, despite being a district that has favored Republicans and running against a well-liked incumbent, Allan managed to garner 45% of the vote with a gap of only 2,200 votes. Equally impressive, he raised over $110,000 in the effort and was able to improve the data on potential voters in his district and the issues they care about.
Since his 2018 run, Allan has set his sights on finishing what he started out to do. He has begun working even earlier and already has his full campaign team in place. We believe they are some of the most competent campaign staff in the state. They are already knocking on doors, doing outreach and raising funds. In short, they are running to win this race. Our confidence in Allan Creasy’s ability to execute on this front is his primary advantage over any other potential Dem candidate for the district and Future901 is proud to endorse Allan Creasy for House District 97.