Democrat Heather McClendon is challenging incumbent state Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes for her Tennessee House District 30 seat.
McClendon, 47, grew up in Ringgold, Georgia, and graduated from Ringgold High School. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Georgia, then moved to Chattanooga to get an education specialist degree in school psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
McClendon worked for Walker County Schools for a decade as a school psychologist and now works as a school psychologist for Tennessee Virtual Academy. McClendon is a single mother of three children and lives in the Brainerd-Belvoir area. As an educator and someone who overcame cancer, McClendon sees education policy and health care as important issues to tackle in the legislature.
(READ MORE: Read about more local candidates on the Nov. 5 ballot at timesfreepress.com/vote-2024)
McClendon will face Helton-Haynes in the polls as voters cast ballots in the general election on Nov. 5. Early voting in Tennessee begins on Oct. 16. For more information, visit elect.hamiltontn.gov.
Office DETAILS
Duties: Representatives introduce bills and resolutions, offer amendments, serve on committees, vote on legislation and perform constituent services.
Area represented: Apison, Brainerd, Brainerd Hills, Dalewood, East Brainerd, East Lake, East Ridge, Eastside, Glenwood, Hurricane Creek, Missionary Ridge, Ooltewah, Ridgeside, Silverdale
Population: 75,000
Staff: Each representative has one staffer, two if the representative is a committee chair
Member salary: $28,000
Health benefits: Yes
Start date: Jan. 14
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury
(READ MORE: Heather McClendon seeks Tennessee House District 30 seat)
POLICY Q&A
The Chattanooga Times Free Press asked all state legislative candidates for their stances on abortion, guns and education legislation. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: Where do you stand on abortion? Are you satisfied with the current legislation in Tennessee regarding women’s reproductive rights, or would you look to make any more changes?
A: I think that women’s health care decisions should be between them, their doctor, their family and their faith. That’s it. The government should not be overreaching into our personal lives and making decisions for us. Period.
I would definitely work to pass legislation that takes away the restrictions on women’s access to reproductive care in general and make sure that access is opened and it becomes a conversation that they are able to have with their doctor, the expert in medicine, to help them make the decisions they need to make.
CAMPAIGN Money
Raised in 2024: $13,900
Spent in 2024: $7,600
Source: Tennessee Online Campaign Finance
Q: Where do you stand on school vouchers? Do you agree with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s recent push to make education spending accounts available statewide?
A: I do not support vouchers. There are several reasons, the first of which would be that we currently don’t have enough funding for our public schools, so to have a discussion about taking funding away from public schools when we already are underfunded is inappropriate to me. We can’t be in the business of underfunding groups or institutions or agencies and then coming and saying “Oh, you didn’t do a good job with the underfunded money that we gave you.” We need to make sure that we fund education appropriately and then get them the support they need based on the evidence that we know is effective.
(READ MORE: School vouchers, flags and more: 6 bills that failed in the Tennessee statehouse)
A society is going to be better if it has fully funded and very high-quality public education. The reality is that even with $7,000, most families are not going to be able to afford private schools. If we continue to underfund public education, we’re gonna make it worse and worse and worse. The reality is that means that plenty of students just get left because they can’t afford private schools.
Q: Where do you stand on gun legislation? What changes if any would you make to Tennessee’s gun laws?
A: So in Tennessee, we have the most restrictive legislation related to women’s health care and the loosest restriction related to gun legislation. I think it’s more than 70% of people agree that we need some kind of legislation. We need to make sure that a person who is at risk of harming themselves or others doesn’t have access to a weapon.
I do think that means we need to have a discussion about how you get that information. We have privacy laws that prevent some of that from being shared, for good reason, so we have to look at that and figure out what the barriers are. We want to protect people’s right to privacy, but also we want to protect our communities.
Contact Sarah Dolgin at sdolgin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6556.