Allison Gorman

I'm a journalist and editor who has raised three daughters in D26 while working from home. I believe our state laws should be written with the same level of diligence as the best journalism: grounded in facts and data, with input from subject-matter experts as well as ordinary people impacted by the matter at hand. Before we write or pass a law, we should always understand its potential human and economic consequences. Ultimately, the role of state lawmakers is simple: to use their limited time and the state’s limited tax dollars as efficiently as possible to help as many people as possible. In TN, that hasn’t been happening. Laws are being introduced and passed solely for the purpose of energizing an extreme base. These laws are divisive and damaging. They don’t help anyone, and they hurt people who are already hurting. Tennesseans have also been harmed by the top-down politicization of healthcare and education. Our state government needs to get out of the business of bullying and grandstanding and back into the business of helping improve the lives of everyday Tennesseans. That’s true representation.

• Everyone in Tennessee has seen or personally experienced the medical and financial damage caused by lack of access to health care. Our state has high rates of chronic disease. It’s the top state for medical bankruptcies. It’s the second-highest rate for rural hospital closures, because patients can’t pay for treatment. When we let people get sick because they can’t afford to see the doctor, when we let them go bankrupt from medical bills, when we force them to use the ER for primary care, we all pay for that. My first focus will be expanding Medicaid in TN. Federal funds are on the table to get around 400K more Tennesseans covered. Studies show there’s no economic downside; we’d come out ahead. It’s time to act.
• Tennessee has been disinvesting from public schools for years. That’s economically disastrous. When we give our children a good education, we put them on track to become successful adults: the skilled workers who attract major employers, the entrepreneurs who start new businesses, the visionaries who lift up communities. Last year Tennessee ranked 44th out of 50 states for how much funding it devotes to its K–12 schools. I’ll work to restore full funding to our traditional neighborhood schools, which can be catalysts for positive grassroots change. I will actively oppose current efforts to politicize public school curricula and materials and to siphon tax dollars from public schools to privately run charter schools with a political agenda.
• People are disgusted with government, and D26 offers the perfect example of why. First, it’s not an extreme right-wing district—on the contrary, it’s politically diverse—but the laws pushed and passed by our state reps have been extreme, completely out of step with the majority of constituents. We have plenty of real problems that need solving, but those have been ignored in favor of divisive laws and rhetoric. Second, we’ve seen political corruption firsthand. Our last elected state rep abused her office for personal gain. She committed a felony, lied about it, then pled guilty. People in D26 just want a responsive rep who will help them with problems that need resolution at a higher level. That shouldn’t be too much to ask.

The first is mental health care—or the lack thereof—in Tennessee. I know from experience with my own family members that it’s very difficult to get mental health care here even if you have insurance. There aren’t enough providers. People with mental health issues are at high risk of being crime victims, being shot by police, or being incarcerated. We must find funds and partnerships to expand access to mental health care in TN. The second is felon disenfranchisement. Nearly half a million Tennesseans, and one in five black Tennesseans, can’t vote because they have a prior felony conviction. Almost all of them have served their time. TN makes it almost impossible to restore your rights if you’re poor. That’s deliberate, and it’s wrong.