Opinion: Score one for Tennessee’s governor in Twitter back-and-forth with California governor

AP File Photo/John Amis / Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee delivers his second inaugural address in the Legislative Plaza on Jan. 21, 2023, in Nashville.
AP File Photo/John Amis / Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee delivers his second inaugural address in the Legislative Plaza on Jan. 21, 2023, in Nashville.

In the era before a particular presidential candidate named Donald Trump, Republicans often had a difficult time sticking up for themselves.

Since Ronald Reagan turned away criticism with humor during his two terms as president in the 1980s, it was rare to find a member of the GOP who was effective at swatting opponents, returning invective or defending their policies.

Trump changed all that. Some would say in not such helpful ways.

It was and is rare for public criticism of the former president and 2024 presidential candidate, or something he said or did, to go unanswered.

We hope many in the GOP have learned from him -- the sticking up for themselves part and not the childish, insulting retorts part.

Over the weekend, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee stuck up for our state and a bill he signed in the face of criticism from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.

The California governor, for whatever reason, took to Twitter to note that: "Tennessee has the 8th highest murder rate in the nation.

"It ranks 44th among states for health outcomes.

"And this is what the governor is focused on."

Attached was an Associated Press article which noted that Lee had signed a bill making the state the first to limit the exposure of drag performers to children.

Lee, in answering the tweet, wrote: "I'm often asked why so many families & companies move from California to Tennessee.

"People want to live in a low-tax state that supports families & believes freedom & opportunity belong to everybody -- not just the elite.

"If you like rankings, we recommend the U-Haul growth index."

The most recent U-Haul growth index, released in January and compiled according to the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks arriving in a state in a calendar year versus departing that state, ranked Tennessee sixth in 2022. The state had been first in 2020 and third in 2021.

California was 50th in the index for the third consecutive year, meaning that state saw the greatest net loss of one-way U-Haul trucks.

The bottom seven states -- essentially the ones people are leaving most frequently -- are all highly populated and are led by Democrats. In fact, in each of the seven (California, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Maryland), the governor is a Democrat and each of its two U.S. senators are Democrats.

"While U-Haul migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth," the moving company said, "the U-Haul Growth Index is an effective gauge of how well states ... are attracting and maintaining residents."

A 2022 Los Angeles Times article that cited a previous U-Haul growth index cited several reasons Newsom's state is tops for losing residents.

Urban crime, a growing unhoused population, public school quality and overall quality of life are driving them away, Matthew Kahn, a University of Southern California economics professor, said.

Lee Ohanian, a University of California at Los Angeles economics professor, noted what the state could become.

"[California is] at a risk for becoming a state for very, very wealthy people and very, very low earners who receive state and local and federal aid that allows them to be able to live here," he said.

It's not the first time Gov. Lee has defended Tennessee from a fellow governor.

In 2020, when COVID-19 was rampaging through the country and states were determining their own best strategies for dealing with it, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in a news briefing warned residents of the Bluegrass State that they were taking their lives into their hands by traveling to Tennessee because of the amount of virus there.

"I cannot control that Tennessee has not taken the steps that we have," he said. "... I need you to be strong in your pride in this state, and I need you to make sure that you don't take someone else's lack of action and ultimately bring it back to Kentucky to harm us."

Lee, at the time, told this page Tennessee was testing three times more people per capita than Kentucky to determine actual confirmed cases of the virus.

"To me," he said, "that particular measure, that particular metric -- we know what works."

Lee said he had probably talked to 40 governors in the last month.

"We share best practices and try to respect the individuality and uniqueness of each state," he said.

As of the most recent data, since the start of the pandemic, Kentucky has had the third most cases per 100,000 people of any state. Tennessee has had the fifth most cases per 100,000 people. Tennessee has had the fifth most deaths from the virus per 100,000 people, while Kentucky has had the 11th most deaths per 100,000.

Though Lee started neither dust-up with Newsom and Beshear, he was willing to return fire with facts and without harsh words, unlike the former president. We believe that's what we should expect from our state leaders.

Upcoming Events