Feature photo courtesy of Sidelines Archive
Story by Maia O’Brien
Early voting in Tennessee begins Wednesday and goes until Oct. 31, and it is important to be informed on the candidates on the ballot, all the way from president to your state and local level.
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower part of the legislative branch of the state government. It is made up of 99 members, making 99 districts dividing up areas of Tennessee. Five districts make up parts of the Rutherford County Area.
If you are registered to vote at an MTSU address or an address surrounding MTSU, you are likely voting in Tennessee House District 37 or 48.
Charlie Baum (Republican, incumbent) – District 37
Charlie Baum from District 37 is running for reelection and has been in office since 2018. He is an economics professor at MTSU. His campaign runs on working to keep taxes low and eliminating wasteful spending. Baum wants to encourage and maintain high academic standards in the state and support the teachers. His campaign’s focus is to fight to reduce excessive government regulation. His top priorities are to increase access to health care and to lower health care costs.
Cheri Brown (Democrat) – District 37
Cheri Brown from District 37 is a former warehouse worker. She wants to fight for equality and justice for working-class people and those who are senior citizens, veterans and people with disabilities. She wants to help face the affordable housing crisis in Rutherford County and to work on curbing homelessness. She’s for protecting people’s bodily autonomy and fighting the exclusion of the disabled community.
Bryan Terry (Republican, incumbent) – District 48
Bryan Terry from District 48 is running for reelection and has been in office since 2015. He is a partner in a small medical practice and works as an anesthesiologist. He has been leading the state in many health-related issues like mental health, the opioid crisis, children’s health, health care costs and more. He wants to support the agriculture families with legislation like the Rural Economic Opportunity Act. He is pro-life. He wants to maintain low taxes and protect the Second Amendment.
Matt Ferry (Democrat) – District 48
Matt Ferry from District 48 is a small business owner and former chair of the Rutherford County Democratic Party. He hopes to further fund public schools and give them equal access to resources. He wants to introduce Safe Storage laws to prevent accidental gun deaths. He is pro-choice and wants to protect access to IVF and birth control.
Mike Sparks (Republican, incumbent) – District 49
Mike Sparks from District 49 is running for reelection and has been in office since 2010. He has served as the Rutherford County Commissioner and Smyrna Planning Commissioner. He thinks the biggest issue is illegal immigration and wants to protect the public’s safety. He wants to strengthen Tennessee laws and make it possible for people with criminal records to turn their lives around. He also wants to continue to invest in education.
Luis Mata (Democrat) – District 49
Luis Mata from District 49 is a community advocate and immigrant. He wants public schools to receive quality education and be fully funded. He’s pushing for investments in smart infrastructure to lessen traffic congestion in Rutherford County. He wants to increase access to resources for small businesses and eliminate the grocery tax.
Robert Stevens (Republican, incumbent) – District 13
Robert Stevens from District 13 is a former attorney and business owner running for reelection. He’s been in office since 2022. He is pro-life and pro-Second Amendment. He is also for reducing taxes for Tennessee families and fighting illegal immigration and crime.
Jonathan Yancey (Democrat) – District 13
Jonathan Yancey from District 13 is a prior public school teacher and professor. He is for free school meals, fully funded public schooling, pro-choice, protecting healthcare, extending healthcare to more citizens and pushing for responsible gun ownership and living wages.
Tim Rudd (Republican, incumbent) – District 34
Tim Rudd from District 34 is running for reelection and has been in office since 2016. He is pro-life and for protecting the Second Amendment. He wants to protect borders and religious freedoms. Rudd wants to continue to fight against higher taxes. He wants to bring “In God We Trust” back into Tennessee schools and to remove adult materials from schools and libraries.
Amelia Pant (Democrat) – District 34
Amelia Pant from District 34 is a community organizer who believes we need a 21st-century legislature to solve our 21st-century problems. She wants to protect people’s access to health care, including abortion and gender-affirming care. She’s for protecting public school systems, the environment, the democratic process, working-class families and the most vulnerable citizens.
Tennessee Senate
The other part of the legislative branch, the Tennessee Senate, works on the same jobs as the House. Out of the 33 seats, 16 are up for election in November. The only district that includes the Rutherford County area that is up for reelection is District 14.
Only one district that includes part of Rutherford County and all of MTSU is being voted on in November.
Shane Reeves (Republican, incumbent) – District 14
Shane Reeves is running for reelection and has been in office since 2018. He has been a very active member of the Rutherford County community. He is pro-life. Core beliefs for him are the freedom of religion and standing against human trafficking and child abuse. He believes that marriage is between one man and one woman and that strong families are a big part of Tennessee. Reeves wants to work to make adoption easier. He wants to provide the best education for children and create jobs all across middle Tennessee.
E.R. Smith (Democrat) – District 14
E.R. Smith has worked as a public school teacher and entrepreneur. She advocates for increased funding for public schools and giving teachers better pay. Smith wants to enact sensible regulations on guns and encourage comprehensive background checks for those buying them. She also wants to fight for rural access to healthcare. She also is very passionate about the environment and sustainability.
United States House of Representatives
Scott DesJarlais (Republican, incumbent) – District 4
Scott DesJarlais from District 4 is running for reelection and has been in office since 2011. He supports strong borders and having domestic law enforcement to protect American citizens. He is pushing for efforts to open foreign markets and enforce free and fair trade in rural Tennessee. DesJarlais wants to return power to patients and their doctors to lower prices for insurance. He wants better services and support for the veterans in Tennessee.
Victoria Broderick (Democrat) – District 4
Victoria Isabel Broderick from District 4 has worked in the tech industry. She is pro-choice, pro-public education and pro-gun reform. She has several personal experiences that encouraged her to run for office and fight for her main issue of a person’s right to choose.
United States Senate
Marsha Blackburn (Republican, incumbent)
Marsha Blackburn is running for reelection and has been in office since 2018. She wants to hammer down on illegal immigration and protect our border. She wants to continue to speak out about the threats from the Chinese Communist Party. She believes the United States needs to continue to stand with Israel. She is pro-life.
Gloria Johnson (Democrat)
Gloria Johnson is a special education teacher, and she believes the power needs to go back to working, middle-class families. She wants to protect abortion rights, birth control, and fertility treatments. She wants to fight for common sense gun safety laws. She wants to expand quality, affordable health care and lower costs of housing and groceries.
President
Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris is the current Vice President. A big goal of hers is to help build up the middle class. She wants to cut taxes and make renting and home ownership more affordable. She wants to restore and protect reproductive rights. She is also fighting to make the country safer from gun violence, fix the immigration system and take on the opioid crisis. She is also continuously fighting against Project 2025.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump is the former President. He plans to seal the border and carry out the largest deportation operation in America’s history. He wants to introduce large tax cuts for workers and end inflation. He wants to strengthen and modernize our military. Trump also wants to stop migrant crime and demolish foreign drug cartels. He wants to make college campuses safe and patriotic by deporting “pro-Hamas radicals.”
Further information can be found on the candidates’ personal campaign platform for people to learn more about all their policies.
Maia O’Brien is a contributing writer for MTSU Sidelines.
To contact the News Editor, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com.
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