In the past few years, Tennessee’s state legislature has enacted many dangerously right-wing laws, such as legislation that criminalizes drag and another that prohibits red flag laws to keep guns away from those a danger to themselves and others.
Despite the GOP supermajority, Democratic Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, of state House District 28, has stood in opposition to the extreme views in the General Assembly.
For this, the Chattanooga Times endorses Hakeem for re-election over independent candidate Dr. Thomas Brooks.
The political makeup of the state legislature, for sure, needs to change, but Hakeem is a representative we need to keep in Nashville.
Not only does he oppose the rightward bent of the state’s politics, he recognizes the need to increase local civic engagement in Hamilton County, where there was only 15% voter turnout during the August primary.