State Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, wants to trade in her state House seat for Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s seat in Washington.
Johnson visited the Bessie Smith Cultural Center in downtown Chattanooga on Wednesday afternoon to address items on the Democratic agenda, denounce the work of her opponent and encourage Hamilton County residents to get out the vote.
“Twenty-seven years of working with emotionally disturbed teenage boys prepared me for the Tennessee legislature,” Johnson said, followed by an eruption of laughter from attendees.
She also expressed her disdain for the Republicans on the presidential ticket, referring to former President Donald Trump as a rapist with 34 felony counts and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s derogatory comments about childless, cat-owning women.
Johnson said every Tennessean wants to make a living wage, be able to put food on the table and pay their rent or mortgage. She said she makes the same money as the lower-average Tennessean and has lived in the same two-bedroom cottage for 30 years. Tennessee state House members make $28,000 a year. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the median household income in Tennessee in 2022 was about $64,000.
The Democratic nominee described Blackburn as wealthy and said she’d like to see her try to live off of the minimum wage in Tennessee, which is the federal rate of $7.25.
Johnson also said the economy will grow when 1 million people are shopping at Target for family necessities, not when 1,000 people are buying yachts.
She also advocated for the expansion of Medicaid in Tennessee, said late-term abortion is a political term and not a medical term and spoke of maternal mortality plaguing Tennessee women and girls who do not have access to women’s reproductive health care due to the state’s restrictive abortion legislation.
“We give more rights to a violent rapist — they can choose the mother of their child — than we give to a woman,” Johnson said. “She can not choose not to have her rapist’s baby.”
Johnson said Blackburn supports a federal abortion ban. Blackburn has told a Nashville television station that she does not support a federal abortion ban.
“Sen. Blackburn has a strong record of getting things done for Tennessee families, including passing bipartisan legislation to protect kids online and authoring a law to protect survivors of sexual assault in the workplace,” said Savannah Newhouse, Blackburn’s campaign spokesperson, by text. “She’s ready to build on that record when the Volunteer State sends her back to the U.S. Senate.”
Johnson also said that Democrats don’t care about who a person loves, what a person’s race is or where they worship. She said Republicans run on divisive politics instead of policy.
“I think the Democratic Party works to create a feeling of oppression amongst the freest and wealthiest citizens of the world in order to create such baseless attacks,” said Mark Harrison, chair of the Hamilton County GOP.
(READ MORE: Political tours visit Hamilton County as early voting turnout rises)
Overall, Johnson said her campaign experience has been positive and that she has seen many people change their way of thinking. She said Democrats have to work hard, and that door-knocking and personal phone calls are the way to flip seats.
LOCAL CANDIDATES
Johnson was joined by local Democratic candidates for state House and state Senate, including:
— Missy Crutchfield, who is running for state Senate District 10 against incumbent Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga
— Heather McClendon, who is running for state House District 30 against incumbent Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes, R-East Ridge
— Allison Gorman, who is running for state House District 26 against incumbent Rep. Greg Martin, R-Hixson
— Kathy Lennon, who is running against Republican Michele Reneau for Tennessee House District 27
— Incumbent state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, who is challenged by independent Thomas J. Brooks III
Jack Allen, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Southeast Tennessee, for his congressional seat also spoke at the event.
Local Democratic candidates emphasized their action items of improving the cost of living for Tennesseans, expanding health care access and women’s reproductive rights, implementing gun control and improving public education. The candidates stressed the need for relentless door-knocking, phone banking and donations to help Democrats flip seats to change the Republican supermajority in the state delegation.
Johnson said she has had voters who identify as Republicans reach out to her and say that they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Trump or Blackburn, some saying they voted for her. She said those same voters might still say they’re voting for Trump if a pollster asks, stating her internal polling does not match a recent Beacon Center poll showing her lagging behind Blackburn in the Senate race.
“People are starting to see reality,” Johnson said. “Tennesseans are paying attention more than I’ve ever seen before.”
Contact Sarah Dolgin at sdolgin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6556.