State Rep. Greg Vital, R-Harrison, is running for reelection to continue representing Tennessee House District 29.
Vital, 68, has been a Hamilton County resident for 50 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Southern Adventist University. Vital is a co-founder of Morning Pointe Senior Living, a network of senior living and memory care facilities across the South. He was a Collegedale city commissioner for four years.
(READ MORE: Read about more local candidates on the Nov. 5 ballot at timesfreepress.com/vote-2024)
Vital has worked on many land conservation efforts such as Land Trust for Tennessee, where he’s placed much of his land. In 2021, he was elected to the statehouse and most recently served as the vice chair of the transportation committee. In his free time, he can often be found on his buffalo farm in Georgetown.
Vital will face Democrat Ryan Scofield 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.
POLICY Q&A
Vital said the main issues he hears about in his district are inflation and immigration.
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 changes?
A: I have, my whole career, worked to protect human life from birth to the grave. I’m not a woman. I have a mother, I have sisters, a wife at one time. I support Tennessee law, and I want to protect life, but I do think we’re going to have to make sure that in the case of rape and incest and crimes, in the extreme protection of the mother, we’ve got to explore some things. I don’t know what that’s going to look like. I don’t serve on the health committees, but we are going to need input in a rational, level way as we go forward.
Office Details
Duties: Representatives introduce bills and resolutions, offer amendments, serve on committees, vote on legislation and perform constituent services.
Area represented: Apison, Birchwood, Bonny Oaks, Brainerd Hills, Collegedale, Concord, East Brainerd, Harrison Bay, Hunter, Meadowview, Ooltewah, Savannah Bay, Silverdale, Summit, Tyner, Wolftever
Population: 75,700
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
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 don’t want to take any more money out of our public schools, but we’ve got to have the ability for families that are in failing schools to get their kids in schools and give them an opportunity and not fall behind. Young people have been victimized by COVID, loss of being in the classroom. There are schools that aren’t meeting expectations. Our graduation rate and our success rates are not where they need to be in Tennessee yet.
The devil’s going to be in the details of the voucher bill. We have the ability to have vouchers in Hamilton County. They have not been maximized. I want to better understand why they haven’t. We have a lot of folks in private schools because they’re not seeing the level of performance in our public schools that we need to have. So how do we help our public schools get better performance and levels of graduation and reading scores, and then also give people a choice?
Campaign Money
Beginning balance: $291,000
Raised in 2024: $62,000
Spent in 2024: $22,000
Source: Tennessee Online Campaign Finance
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Q: Where do you stand on gun legislation? What changes if any would you make to Tennessee’s gun laws?
A: I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, as I am a strong supporter of all the amendments in the Constitution, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, across the board.
People need to be held accountable again for acts of violence with a gun or with a knife or anything else, and people are not concerned about the consequences, and that’s why we’ve had an uptick.
I’ve been around guns all my life. Never had a problem. It’s about respecting what they are. It’s tragic what’s happened. It’s tragic to think that on a Saturday night at 1, my odds go up greater to be hit by a drunk driver, too. It’s about people understanding there’s accountability and responsibility. I don’t want drunk drivers out there, and I don’t want people that shouldn’t have guns to have guns. We have a lot of laws on the books we’re not enforcing. I have not seen any new legislation that I can support, and I think we’ve gotta enforce what we’ve got right now.
Contact Sarah Dolgin at sdolgin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6556.