Candidate calls for forum in District 30 race

The Democratic candidate in the Tennessee House District 30 race has challenged his Republican opponent to appear at a debate he's organizing on Oct. 29.

Joda Thongnopnua has hammered Esther Helton for refusing to appear with him in forums where they can debate or answer audience questions together.

"Communication is a big part of being a representative," Thongnopnua said Friday. "If you're unwilling to do the basic part of informing your constituents of what your vision is, I don't know why you're running. They have a candidate whose discussion of the issues is all downside for her. That's pretty depressing."

Esther Helton

But Helton's campaign said the call for a debate is "just another political stunt from a candidate who used a push poll to attack Esther for voting for eminent domain when no such vote ever occurred."

Helton "will focus her efforts on canvassing, neighborhood meetings and speaking directly to the voters instead of dealing with the negative attacks and political innuendos that seem to dominate our elections today," campaign manager Ben Easterly said in an emailed statement.

Thongnopnua said he doesn't know "what the Helton campaign is talking about" regarding a push poll and added, "if Esther has anything to say about the way I've conducted myself, I'd love to see her on Oct. 29."

"The idea that a productive discussion about the issues is some sort of political stunt tells me all I need to know about the Esther Helton campaign. I urge her to reconsider her perspective about the role of healthy debate in a democracy," he said.

Helton's campaign has said she's meeting voters one on one, knocking on doors and gathering with small groups in the community as she did when she ran a successful race for East Ridge City Council two years ago.

District 30 voters care about her key issues of better schools and school safety, growing jobs and reducing health care costs, Helton told the Times Free Press last week. As a longtime nurse, Helton said she has seen health care from the inside and believes transparency in pricing, expanded training in the health professions and more competition in the marketplace can help bring costs down.

She doesn't favor expanding Medicaid, but said communities could make greater use of county health departments and outpatient clinics to deliver basic care at lower cost to more people.

"I believe grassroots [campaigning] works," Helton said. "People want to be heard, they want you to be receptive."

Thongnopnua said his own polling shows Helton with a lead but he believes he has a "serious and credible path" to victory, especially since independent candidate Michael Holloway dropped out of the race last week and said he will campaign for the Democrat. He supports expanding Medicaid, putting more money into public education and raising the minimum wage to at least $10 an hour, all traditional Democratic positions, but also says he wants to work with members of the other party to move the state forward.

The poll of 350 voters by Secrest Strategies, taken in mid-September, showed "our big challenge is name recognition" against an opponent who is an elected city official and who spent heavily in an ugly May primary battle, which she won.

Democrats have been out of action in District 30 for years, Thongnopnua added. But he sees a possible opening there, noting the last three state representatives were former East Ridge mayors. His door-knocking tells him voters in Collegedale, Apison and East Brainerd may be looking for someone this time who comes from somewhere other than East Ridge, he added.

District 30 is in east Hamilton County and includes areas of Chattanooga, East Ridge, East Brainerd, Apison, and Collegedale.

Early voting starts Oct. 17 and Election Day is Nov. 6.

Contact staff writer Judy Walton at jwalton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416.