Feature photo by Siri Reynolds
Story by Siri Reynolds
Many MTSU students will soon choose between Charlie Baum and Cheri Brown on the ballot to represent Tennessee State House District 37.
District 37 is one of 5 districts in Rutherford County, encompassing parts of eastern Smyrna and northwestern Murfreesboro. MTSU’s campus was split in half by recent redistricting, but students registered to vote on campus will see District 37 on their ballots. Off-campus, it gets more complicated: for example, 1540 Place is in District 37, but Albion at Murfreesboro is in District 48.
Charlie Baum is the Republican candidate and incumbent. He is an economics professor at MTSU and claims that his highest priorities are “responsible budgeting, making healthcare more accessible, and promoting safe neighborhoods and communities.”
Cheri Brown is the Democratic candidate. Currently retired, her highest priorities are reproductive healthcare–including abortion–and affordable housing.
Baum and Brown both prioritize healthcare in similar ways. Baum pointed out in an interview over email that he has sponsored legislation to expand eligibility for TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program.
“Expanding TennCare would help Tennesseans without health insurance acquire health care,” Baum said. “It would also help hospitals, including rural hospitals, stay open because a larger portion of their clienteles would be able to pay for healthcare.”
Brown also said that Medicaid expansion was important to Tennessee, although she also believes that the federal government should be more involved with universal healthcare.
“Everybody deserves healthcare,” Brown said. “That, to me, is a basic human right, just like housing.”
On the topic of abortion, however, Baum and Brown differ greatly.
“For me, that’s the number one issue that affects the most people in our country and in our state,” Brown said. “We need to reverse the laws that we have in place…we’ve got to fight like hell to take our rights back in Tennessee.”
Baum was equally passionate about the subject.
“I am pro-life,” Baum said. “I am opposed to abortions because I believe abortions terminate life. Life is a gift from God.”
Current Tennessee law contains a near-total abortion ban. Baum said he would “consider” a bill codifying exceptions to current abortion law in case of risk to the mother’s life.
Another topic the candidates greatly disagree on is charter schools. The first charter school in Rutherford County, Rutherford Collegiate Prep, opened in August 2024. According to proponents like Baum, charter schools allow families more choice in children’s education.
“I support school choice, and I encourage our county to approve charter schools,” Baum said. “My priority must be what is best for the child, not maximizing financial appropriations for public school boards and education unions.”
Baum also took no issue with charter school funding.
“Although public funding for education would follow the child to the charter school, this does not hurt public schools because they would not have to allocate resources to teach those children who move to charter schools,” Baum said.
Brown, on the other hand, strongly opposes charter schools and disagrees with the way they are funded. Whereas public schools are funded based on the past year’s enrollment, Brown pointed out, charters are funded based on projected enrollment for the year ahead.
“I like the chance for options, but the way that the state funds them is very, very detrimental to all of the school boards,” Brown said. “I have a big problem with charter schools coming in because we have no guardrails.”
Brown also pointed out that even if the Rutherford County School Board rejects a charter school, the state’s Public Charter School Commission can reverse this decision.
“The county has no option to stop it other than suing the state,” said Brown. “That’s crazy.”
When asked about solutions to the high cost of living college students face, Brown pointed to affordable housing and welfare.
“49% of the residents of Rutherford County pay 30% or more of their household income to rent,” Brown said. “We don’t have enough safety nets in place… to help people that need, maybe, a temporary handout.”
In response to the same question, Baum pointed to education funding.
“I have worked to increase state funding for higher education, including MTSU, so that universities won’t have to raise tuition (or won’t have to raise tuition by as much). This helps students keep the cost of living from rising so much by holding tuition costs down,” Baum said.
Early voting in Tennessee is open from Oct. 16 until Oct. 31. Election Day is Nov. 5.
Siri Reynolds is a reporter for MTSU Sidelines.
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