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State and Local Politics Blog

Future901 Endorses Gabby Salinas for District 97

A fighting spirit - that’s what we need in our Tennessee State Legislature. Future901 is proud to endorse Gabby Salinas as the 2020 Democratic candidate for the Tennessee House of Representatives to represent the citizens of the 97th District – Bartlett, Cordova, and East Memphis. Gabby ran for the Tennessee State Senate District 31 in 2018, and narrowly lost the seat to Republican opponent, Brian Kelsey, by a mere 1400 votes. She impressed everyone with her performance against a heavily-funded Republican incumbent. She did well by providing an alternative for voters that want someone in the Legislature advocating for our schools and healthcare access.

That loss is 2018 hasn’t stopped Gabby’s desire to improve our state and county.  That should surprise no one as she has fought through challenge after challenge in her own life. At 7 years-old, Gabby and her family flew to New York, where she was diagnosed with a very rare bone cancer called Ewing sarcoma. They also learned during that visit that it would cost $250,000 to try to save her life.  At the time, a treatment bill like that could have been a death sentence. When Marlo Thomas read Gabby’s story in the local newspaper, Marlo contacted Gabby’s family and arranged for her transfer to St. Jude. While St. Jude helped her fight her cancer, she still faced incredible tragedy in her young life with a car accident that took the lives of her father and sister and left her mother paralyzed.  

Adversity brought Gabby to Memphis, but it was the embrace of her community and her Church that led to her planting deep roots in Bartlett.  Gabby has now lived in House District 97 for 24years and knows her community. It was while living in District 97 that Gabby and her family gained their US citizenship. This is where she went to school, college, and graduate school, eventually earning her PhD and becoming a researcher in the hospital that saved her life. 

Because of her experiences, Gabby has grown into a fierce healthcare advocate, fighting for Medicaid (TennCare) expansion and our rural hospitals. Gabby also supports public education funding and ensuring our children have access to high-quality education.  Unlike her opponent who refuses to take a position on expanding TennCare or on funding public schools, Gabby has been in Nashville staunchly fighting against vouchers.  She has for years lobbied legislators to adopt former-Governor Haslam’s TennCare expansion proposal so that we can bring $1.4 billion in new healthcare revenue to the state, lower the healthcare premiums for those with existing care and grant access to some 300,000 Tennesseans without access to care.

As of today, District 97 has no idea where her Republican opponent stands on Medicaid expansion and school vouchers. However, everyone knows that Gabby stands. 

Gabby is who she is because of her community and wants to give back through public service. Gabby wants to take care of the community that welcomed her family all those years ago and took care of her throughout her life. Cancer has not stopped her. Tragedy has not stopped her. Her razor-thin loss for the Senate District 31 has not stopped her. If given the chance in the Legislature, nothing is going to stop her from fighting for her community.

District 97 is ready for new leadership, and we feel that Gabby is the right leader for her district. If you don’t know Gabby, get to know her before November 3rd. Visit her website at http://voteforgabby.com/about-gabby and donate to her campaign https://secure.actblue.com/donate/gabby-for-tn-house. 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.