Future901 Endorses Andrea Bond Johnson For State House District 82
Future901 is excited to endorse Andrea Bond Johnson as the Democratic candidate for the 82nd District of the Tennessee House of Representatives in the 2020 Democratic Primary to represent the citizens of Crockett, Haywood, and Lauderdale counties. We are happy to see her step up to run again after a very competitive contest against her Republican opponent, Chris Hurt, in 2018. Andrea is a sixth-generation Tennessean, graduating from Haywood High School, Tennessee State University, and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. For the past 19 years, Andrea has served as the CEO of Golden Circle Insurance Agency, a spinoff of Golden Circle Life Insurance Company, the company founded by her grandfather in the 1950s. She is also a licensed funeral director in Tennessee. Both her personal and professional experiences allow her to understand the issues and challenges our neighbors and fellow residents encounter daily.
Andrea was inspired to run, in large part, because of her clients. She has shared in her clients’ despair when preexisting conditions or personal finances made them ineligible for health insurance coverage. Importantly, as a survivor of breast cancer herself, Andrea knows all too well what life can look like without access to affordable healthcare. She grew increasingly frustrated seeing people forced to live with medical and health uncertainties, not being able to afford doctor visits, medical treatments, or life-saving medications – all because the Tennessee Legislature refused to expand Medicaid.
Why do we support Andrea to represent House District 82? She wants to lift up all Tennesseans, while her Republican opponent chooses to ignore and demoralize our most vulnerable neighbors. Republican incumbent Chris Hurt supports the school voucher program, a direct hit against public education by shifting taxpayer dollars to private schools and hurting those students who remain in public schools. Hurt also opposes the expansion of Medicaid (TennCare), which removes access to affordable healthcare for 250,000 low-income pregnant women and parents, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities. Opposing Medicaid expansion also increases the likelihood of rural hospital closures, with 2019 on record as the single worst year of the rural hospital closure crisis. Hurt opposes Medicaid expansion despite the fact that there is now only one hospital within the three rural counties he currently represents, and that hospital is currently in bankruptcy.
Andrea’s vision for Tennessee is focused on these and other issues that improve Tennesseans’ quality of life: providing access to healthcare and saving our rural hospitals by expanding Medicaid, improving infrastructure for our rural communities through increased broadband services and safer roads and bridges, creating good jobs with fair wages, investing in public education for our children’s success, and using data and science to inform public health policy decisions. Andrea is running because loving our neighbors means advocating for them—even, and especially, the most vulnerable populations.
Future901 asks those who live in District 82 and are interested in supporting Andrea, to please visit her campaign website (https://www.andreabondjohnsontn82.com/) to learn more about her, her background, and her policy positions. If you want to learn about Future901 and our mission, please visit our website at https://future901.com/blog or if you would like to support us in our effort to send pragmatic progressives to Nashville, please feel free to contribute at (https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/future901).
