The Primary Is Over And We Have A Winning Team On The Field
The primaries are over and we now know who is going to help us bring change to Tennessee in November.
Future901’s focus continues to be flipping State House seats. In flipping those seats, we are able to put the break on some of the worst gerrymandering practices during redistricting next year. In flipping those seats, we kill any opportunity for the state GOP to force an unwanted voucher program on Shelby and Davidson counties (and nowhere else). In flipping those seats, we put increased pressure on the Legislature to finally expand TennCare, an action that would provide healthcare to tens of thousands and reduce the health insurance premiums of many, many more.
Ballotpedia’s accurate visualization of the current race in Dist 97.
So, now that the primary is over, we know who the folks are that are going to flip those districts. We have Andrea Bond-Johnson (Dist 82), Jerri Green (Dist 83), Torrey Harris (Dist 90), and Gabby Salinas (Dist. 97). These districts are fortunate to have this slate of quality candidates. Now, we need to get them the resources they need to move us forward.
In addition to providing excellent candidates, the election also provided some interesting insights into what November might look like. First, looking at District 83, there are some dark clouds on the horizon for incumbent Mark White. Despite a competitive GOP US Senate race this year, the number of people voting for him in the primary cratered. In the 2018 primary, 7,815 cast votes for White. In 2020, that number was down to 5,730. Those are not the trend lines you want to see if you are facing the challenger (Jerri Green) with the best fundraising chops in the state.
As bad as White looks, the TN GOP looks even worse in District 97. This seat is being vacated by well-liked, GOP incumbent Jim Coley. In 2018, Coley ran unopposed in the primary and garnered 6,664 votes. This year, GOP newcomer John Gillespie (R) got the nomination with only 2,031. More troubling for the GOP in a contested, open seat, the TOTAL number of votes case for GOP candidates was 2,593. In other words, their challengers together are turning out a little over 1/3 the voters that Coley had running unopposed. One could speculate that Gillespie does not have the name recognition of Coley or that he has not benefited from a campaign strategy that consists primarily of taking contributions from super donors and then avoiding any event where the public can ask him questions. At any rate, if we were him, we would be very aware of the fact that the total number of Dem votes in 97 (4,787) almost doubled the number of GOP votes cast. Even worse for Gillespie, Gabby Salinas emerged from a fiercely competitive race with 51% of the vote and more votes cast for her than him 2,454/2,031.
So, looking forward, November is looking promising. Future901 is going to continue our mission to bring change to Tennessee and these four individuals are going to be a big part of making that happen. If you can, please help us part of moving forward.
We ask that you contribute directly to the campaigns of these great candidates and/or become a recurring contributor to Future901:
https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/future901
Or contribute to these great candidates directly:
Jerri Green https://secure.ngpvan.com/C1W-UUZ6CUWfRflV0Fa3Gw2
Gabby Salinas https://secure.actblue.com/donate/gabby-for-tn-house
Torrey Harris https://secure.actblue.com/donate/torreyfor90?recurring=%2210%22
Andrea Bond-Johnson https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ABJ82