Summary
GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander is retiring, and Republicans have mostly coalesced around former Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty.
We think the Republican candidate will likely win the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee.
Politico 4/19/20
OnAir Post: Tennessee – US Senate 2020 Election
News
Commercial Appeal , – October 22, 2020
Of the 35 U.S. Senate seats up for grabs in the 2020 general election, the race to replace Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander has largely been overshadowed, with attention riveted on Alabama, Arizona, Colorado and other states experts say are most likely to flip, determining which party will control the U.S. Senate.
But the showdown in “the Volunteer State” — between a Black woman candidate who recently made history and a businessman who chaired one of Trump’s 2016 fundraising committees — presents voters with perhaps the starkest choice between U.S. Senate candidates.
Vanderbilt Hustler, – September 21, 2020
Both candidates discuss why they should be elected to represent the people of Tennessee in Washington on Nov. 3.
Vanderbilt alum Bill Hagerty (BA ‘81, JD ‘84) is set to face Democrat Marquita Bradshaw as the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in the Nov. 3 general election.
Hagerty, endorsed by President Donald Trump, served as the U.S. ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2019, stepping down to prepare for his Senate run. Bradshaw, on the other hand, is the Environmental Justice Chair of the Sierra Club’s Tennessee chapter and the first black woman to be nominated for statewide office by any major party in the state of Tennessee.
If Hagerty wins the election in November, Vanderbilt’s streak of alumni serving in this seat in the U.S. Senate since 1985 will remain unbroken. Beginning with former Vice President Al Gore in the 1984 Senate race, who attended both the Vanderbilt Divinity School and Law School, three different Senators have since held the seat. The next election will decide who will fill alum Lamar Alexander’s (BA ‘62) vacated seat. Alexander has served since 2003.
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Marquita Bradshaw says her upset win in the August primary is no fluke and wasn’t a surprise to her.
Hagerty praises federal response in Portland in joint online appearance with Trump
“This is not a fringe campaign,” Bradshaw said Thursday, Aug. 27, during a break in the recording of the WKNO Channel 10 program “Behind The Headlines.”
Since primary election night and her decisive victory over frontrunner James Mackler of Nashville, Bradshaw says she has raised 10 times more than what she spent on the primary campaign.
The Hill – August 7, 2020 (10:25)
Marquita Bradshaw
Current Position: Non Profit Administrator
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: 2020 US Senator
I’ve been both one job away from middle class and one job-loss away from poverty. There was a period in my life where I was under-employed without adequate health insurance, but plenty of student loan debt. As a result, I experienced a foreclosure and bankruptcy–the ramifications of which still follow me to this day. I am a single, working-class mother; my son is finishing technical college.
I am smart, committed, tenacious, informed, and passionate about our beautiful Tennessee and everyone who calls it home. My environmental justice work has taken me all over the state where I have met and engaged with people who are concerned with labor, environment, education, taxes, trade, and social justice policies. I am ready to serve, engage, and represent the people of Tennessee.
For more information, see Marquita Bradshaw’s post.
Bill Hagerty
Current Position: Ambassador
Affiliation: Republican
Candidate: 2020 US Senator
Tennesseans deserve a conservative senator who will work with President Donald Trump to drain the swamp, confirm constitutionalist judges, keep our economy growing, and build the wall.
On the campaign trail, Bill is meeting and speaking with Tennesseans and sharing his recent experiences implementing President Trump’s policies. As your next Senator, Bill will work to strengthen our economy, bring more jobs to our communities, stop illegal immigration, defend our Second Amendment rights, protect the unborn, help build the wall and stand for our law enforcement officers, our military and our veterans.
For more information, see Cal Cunningham’s post.
Issues
Governance
Bill Hagerty
Confirming Constitutionalist Judges
President Donald Trump is nominating constitutionalist judges to the federal bench and Supreme Court, and the Republican Senate majority is confirming those judicial nominees who will not legislate from the bench. But extreme Democrats are now talking about packing the court. That’s not what the Founders intended. In the Senate, Bill will support President Trump’s judicial nominees who respect the Constitution and the rule of law.
Tennesseans know firsthand the value of low taxes and small government, and Washington, D.C. could learn a lot from our example. President Trump’s tax cuts are working. Bill believes we need to continue to make the tax code simple, fair, low, and permanent, and he’ll fight to make sure our tax policy encourages job creation and makes our economy globally competitive. He supports a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
Reducing National Debt & Cutting Spending
The Washington establishment continues to spend our money recklessly. Look no further than the extreme liberals who want to implement a government-run health care plan that will cost an estimated $52 trillion and the Green New Deal, which would cost a whopping $93 trillion. Bill knows we need true fiscal conservative leadership to stop the socialist agenda and help President Trump drain the swamp. He will work closely with the President to cut frivolous spending, cut the corporate tax rate to encourage job growth, and make tax cuts permanent. Bill will fight to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, and he will support no budget, no pay legislation.
Your family balances its budget every month, and Bill believes the federal government should too. Bill won’t raise taxes. He will fight for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. He’ll work to streamline an out of control federal government that spends too much of our money and cut down on waste, fraud, and abuse. He’s committed to cutting spending. He will stand strong against the liberal Democrats in the House who want to spend your hard-earned money recklessly.
Marquita Bradshaw
N/A
Civil Rights
Bill Hagerty
Bill believes that the Second Amendment is one of our most important freedoms, and he will always protect our constitutional rights, including our right to bear arms and protect ourselves. The threat to our gun rights is real. That’s why we need strong leadership in the United States Senate that won’t buckle to liberal pressure. Bill opposes a national gun registry, red flag laws and universal background checks. He’ll vote with President Trump to confirm constitutionalist judges who respect our rights to self-defense.
Democracy
Bill Hagerty
One of the best ways to drain the swamp is by enacting term limits. That’s why Bill proudly signed the U.S. Term Limits Amendment Pledge. If Tennesseans send me to the Senate, I will only serve two terms as their United States Senator. We need to ensure Congress is serving our citizens, not themselves and Washington bureaucrats.
Bill will work to protect our founders’ vision for our country. He will vote to confirm President Trump’s judicial nominees who will respect the Constitution and the rule of law. He will protect religious freedom. He will stand up to Washington liberals’ attacks on our Constitution, our freedoms and their never-ending attempts to impeach President Trump. He supports term limits to help hold Congress accountable.
Marquita Bradshaw
I Support Overturning Citizens United.
Some have argued the single most influential Supreme Court decision in our lifetimes has been the overturning of the Citizens United case. This ushered in an era of untold amounts of money being funneled into campaigns from billion-dollar corporations to buy elections. Protecting Democracy is a critical piece of my campaign.
Automatic voter registration.
Secure Vote by Mail.
Outlaw gerrymandering.
Make Election Day a National Holiday.
Thorough campaign finance reform, including overturning Citizens United.
Voters Rights Legislation that protects our ability and right to vote in America
I won’t vote for any judicial nominees who want to turn back the clock on anyone’s rights, especially the LGBTQ+ community. Being deprived of housing, jobs, and healthcare because of your gender identity or sexual orientation – that is a death sentence. I am committed to serving all hardworking families with common-sense policies of transparency and accountability—dignity and fairness for all.
I signed the WolfPac Pledge which support a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to ensure a truly representative government that is responsive to the will of the people. Once an elected official, I pledge to vote in favor of and support the Free and Fair Elections Resolution applying for a limited Article V Convention for the exclusive purpose of proposing an Amendment to fix our broken campaign finance system.
Economy
Bill Hagerty
Bill knows what it takes to grow Tennessee’s bustling economy, because he’s done it. He knows the federal government should never punish success, nor failure in the free market. He’ll work to get government out of the way, cut unnecessary bureaucratic regulation, continue President Trump’s winning streak on taxes, promote free trade, remove barriers to trade, strengthen the regulatory review process, and encourage companies to do business in Tennessee. We’re well positioned to lead the country in economic growth, and Bill will make sure Tennessee’s economy continues to thrive.
Agriculture is vital to Tennessee’s economy. Bill will work to eliminate senseless EPA interference and fight to cut unnecessary regulations. He will pass a Farm Bill for farmers and support President Trump’s efforts to get fair access to global markets.
Marquita Bradshaw
I Support A Living Wage & Worker’s Rights.
Tennesseeans are the hardest working people in this country & their labor deserves to be recognized. This means fully and aggressively fighting for the federal recognition & implementation of a living wage beginning at immediately increasing the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. We should implement a Building an economy that helps all Tennesseeans means:
Provide real support, incentives, and investments to small and medium-sized business owners so they can do right by their employees and enjoy the profits of their work.
Ensure a minimum wage of $15.00 an hour is enacted for Tennessee.
Eliminate our status as a “Right To Work (For Less)” state. This will allow workers fundamental protections & rights within their companies. Our rights as Tennesseans allows us to organize & unionize, workers need more protections and pay at their jobs, not less!
Address the regressive tax structure which contributes massively to keeping the working poor where they are. We need a tax structure that appropriately taxes all working Americans, and does not place the burden of income, sales & property taxes on the working population of Tennessee.
Education
Bill Hagerty
A father of four, Bill knows the best thing we can do for our children is give them a high quality education. Every student in Tennessee, regardless of their zip code, should be prepared with skills for whatever path they choose after graduation. He will work to increase funding for charter schools and protect religious and parochial schools from government inference.
Families should have the opportunity and freedom to pursue the education option that best suits their child’s learning style, including a strong vocational education system. Bill’s mom Ruth was a well-respected educator in Tennessee, and he knows how hard our teachers work, that’s why he’s committed to getting Washington bureaucrats out of the classroom, so our teachers can do what they do best: teach. He strongly opposes “Common Core” and “No Child Left Behind” and supports significantly decreasing funding for the Department Of Education and shifting that money to the states via block grants. He’ll fight to empower parents, teachers, and local communities and make sure every child has the tools they need to be successful.
Marquita Bradshaw
I Support the Right to A Fully Funded High-Quality Public Education.
Our society demands that we teach our students lifelong learning and skills that will translate to a modern economy. I am a lifelong proponent of funding our education system the same as we do our military in order to promote generations of meaningful success regardless of background or location in Tennessee.
We need meaningful ingenuity on how we teach and treat our children, Pre-K – 12 and beyond, to ensure Tennessee is the leader in the coming generations. To ensure everyone not only meets but exceeds their right to a quality education we must:
Relieve current student debt and reinstate protections from predatory for-profit student debt companies and colleges. We cannot invest in our youth if they are burdened with tens of thousands of dollars by the time they graduate. A Tennessee economy with that built into it is not sustainable.
Provide funding available to under-resourced and low performing local education authorities to implement appropriate wrap-around services to set students up for success
Provide quality childcare and school wrap-around services that support working families in economically depressed communities.
Fund universal pre-K education giving children the foundation to be lifelong learners.
Build towards a free technical, community, HBCU, and public college education; expand grants and work-study options in areas of focus so students can complete their studies debt-free and gain skills in their field of choice.
Provide education and job training programs to re-skill workers
Environment
Bill Hagerty
N/A
Marquita Bradshaw
I Support The Green New Deal.
The only way to address climate justice and environmental justice is to commit to addressing pollution. December of 2019, I was the first candidate running for the United States Senate in TN to sign the Green New Deal Pledge. Our current leadership has failed Tennessee in this regard and has sought to turn Tennessee into a landfill for nuclear waste.
As a fighter for environmental justice my entire life, I am proud to stand as someone who sees the unending benefits of this deal, not only for our Planet’s health but for the future of our state’s economy. Tennessee has an opportunity to invest heavily in new jobs, infrastructure, and more with this deal and we need bold, unafraid leadership to take us to new heights. My environmental plan for Tennessee includes:
Supporting the Green New Deal & its initiatives to usher in a new era of economic growth for Tennessee. Investing heavily in infrastructure, jobs & leaving our state a cleaner place for our children to explore.
Require corporations to have environmental, social, and governance plans to rapidly remediate their waste and decrease environmental harm. Encourage a complete lifecycle of products with recycling or reuse to achieve net-zero waste.
Build or retrofit manufacturing plants, particularly in fenceline polluted communities and communities that have lost manufacturing jobs over the last four decades.
Invest heavily in training, education, and career opportunities for professionals who are desperately needed in a rapidly changing environment: biologists, climatologists, renewable energy engineers, inventors, regenerative farmers, conservationists, and specialists in fields as far-ranging as soil regeneration to closed-loop waste disposal to renewable energy financiers.
Federal oversight and audit of the remediation of brownfields and superfund sites. Remediation should be paid for by polluters, not taxpayers.
Provided facilities that specialize in treating environmental induce disease. Our current healthcare system does not have the capacity to diagnose and treat acute and chronic exposures to certain types of chemicals. Areas with the worst environmental polluters also have the sickest populations and require healthcare facilities that recognize and specialize in treating environmentally-induced diseases, including lead exposure.
Health Care
Bill Hagerty
Bill knows Obamacare reduced patient choice and made health care too expensive to afford. Democrats think that Obamacare did not go far enough and now, they are pushing for socialized medicine that would eliminate our private insurance and lead to rationed care and astronomical costs. He believes the best fix would be to reduce the federal government’s power to make health care decisions for you and to return that power to the patients and the free market. Bill will fight to make health care affordable and give you – the patient – the freedom to make your health care decisions. He will work to end surprise billing and reduce the costs of prescription drugs, especially for our seniors.
Marquita Bradshaw
I Support Medicare For All.
As your Senator, I will fight to ensure Tennesseans going bankrupt from seeking needed Medical Care is a thing of the past. Having experienced that in my own life, I know what it’s like to have to suffer through our current system.
Medicare For All is a good place to start, and I commit to you I will only advocate for legislation that is patient-centered.
I want our system of healthcare to be guided by the health outcomes and experience of patients, not insurance company profits. Fundamentally changing our healthcare system in Tennessee means:
Fighting for legislation that guarantees when you go to the doctor, you will not leave with a bill that will bankrupt your family.
Simplifying our system of healthcare in this country. Working families in Tennessee don’t have time to worry about copays, deductibles, insurance premiums, and the never-ending list of things that keep you from getting care.
Including mental, dental, vision, comprehensive reproductive health and addiction wrap-around services help into every conversation and legislation about healthcare. Tennesseeans are having to choose between paying for their medical needs or their mortgages in many cases. This is not right. I will fight for you & your family as hard as I do my own.
Immigration
Bill Hagerty
Putting an end to illegal immigration begins with securing our southern border. Bill will work with President Trump to build the wall and ensure that existing immigration laws are fully enforced. He opposes amnesty and DACA, believes illegal aliens who commit crimes must be deported, and will work to stop sanctuary cities in Tennessee and across the country. Bill supports moving towards a merit based immigration system and common sense solutions like requiring illegal aliens traveling with children to take a DNA test to prove their familial relationship. He will always stand up for the rule of law and support our border patrol agents.
Marquita Bradshaw
I Support DACA
We should always be the beacon for families looking for better opportunities to find refuge from oppression, tyranny, violence, and prosecution.
We should stop criminalizing and splitting up families seeking asylum. Immigration and Foreign policy are intertwined. Foreign policies should focus on strategic investments in diplomacy and development to build a better, safer world through environmental integrity, strengthening education opportunities, and stabilization of economies.
I support restoring DACA protections and providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. We must strive to keep families united as they seek better opportunities for their children. Family separation, mass deportation, and children in cages – these are the symptoms of a fundamentally broken immigration system that does not value human life.
I support the ratification of the UN’s “International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.” Immigrant workers should enjoy the full rights provided by the United States labor law.
We have the power to break the vicious cycle of violence inflicted upon marginalized peoples. What we have done to indigenous people, women, Black people, the LGBTQ community, and so many other communities – we must strive not to do towards immigrants and their families. We must especially strive to save the children.
Infrastructure
Bill Hagerty
Bill will do everything in his power to stop the Green New Deal and fight socialist attempts to ban fracking. He will support the exploration and development of fossil fuels. Bill will work to repeal renewable fuels standards and scale back excessive environmental regulations on the development of new resources.
With more and more Americans choosing to make Tennessee their home, we must ensure our infrastructure system keeps up. Bill will fight to ensure Washington is more careful with how it spends your federal tax dollars, encourage public-private partnerships, and work closely with President Trump to advocate for Tennessee’s highways and waterways.
But 21st Century infrastructure isn’t limited to our roadways, it also includes reliable internet access. Bill will work with members of both parties to close the digital divide and ensure that all Tennesseans have access to reliable internet.
Marquita Bradshaw
N/A
Safety
Bill Hagerty
Our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every single day to keep our communities safe. They are the only thing standing between anarchy and your family’s safety. We have seen criminals and ANTIFA anarchists hijack First Amendment protests with a campaign for violence and crime. Dismantling and defunding our police departments will throw our country into chaos. Who will answer the call when you’re family needs help? The dismantling and defunding of law enforcement in America is not the solution. As your next Senator, Bill will work to uphold the rule of law, stop ANTIFA, and fight to secure appropriate funding and support for our law enforcement officers.
See post for more info.
Marquita Bradshaw
I Support Community Policing, Restorative Justice and Signed the Justice Guarantee Pledge
Restorative justice is a theory of justice that focuses on repairing the harm caused by the crime. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that allow stakeholders to meet. In Tennessee, we need a fundamental overhaul of our justice system to ensure that we all are being held to an equal interpretation of the law, not one rooted in racial and income bias. When we do this it will lead to a transformation of people, relationships, and communities.
Support services while serving time to prepare for re-entry into society in order to decrease recidivism.
Restore the right to vote following other States’ blueprints.
Physical and mental health services for those living with addiction.
Address the disparities of longer sentences and extended probations.
Ensure reentry programs and probation services are not privatized.
End wage slavery where incarcerated people get paid below market value for jobs benefiting corporations.
I support the full legalization of recreational marijuana. We need to lead Tennessee in this industry that can not only help our economy but also begin to give Black & brown Tennesseans entrepreneurship, alongside restorative justice to those who have been impacted by our outdated & predatory drug laws.
See post for more info.
Veterans
Bill Hagerty
Our most important national security asset isn’t the technology nor infrastructure, it’s the men and women of our Armed Forces. While we can never fully repay the debt of service, Bill knows we must do everything we can to serve those who have sacrificed so much, and he will protect Fort Campbell, Arnold Air Force Base, and Millington Naval Base. His father served in the Coast Guard, and he will always fight to make sure our active duty servicemen – and their families – have the tools they need to complete their missions, and he will work to repair a broken VA system that too often fails our veterans.
Marquita Bradshaw
N/A
