Over and over Thursday, Chattanooga area tea party supporters echoed the same sentiment: Vote out incumbents.
The local arm of the national movement held its second annual Tax Day Rally in Coolidge Park, where hundreds showed up, many bearing signs, T-shirts and hats with messages ranging from “Repeal Congress” to “Tax the Rich.” The tea party movement, just more than a year old, expresses a deep discontent with politicians in Washington, D.C.
“I want all the incumbents gone,” said Dixie Billingsley, 66, an independent from Signal Mountain. “I want to cut taxes and spending, and I’d like Congress to follow the Constitution.”
Robert Edwards, 50, of Chatsworth, Ga., started the Murray County Tea Party three months ago and said he hopes the national movement will encourage people to elect fiscal conservatives, “people of integrity and Constitutionalists at heart.” He joined the movement “because of the position our government’s been taking in the recent past as it relates to spending and the abuse of our Constitution.”