Tennessee bans abortion from the moment of conception. The Republican majority in the State House didn’t just vote for this ban, which hundreds of Tennessee doctors warned was dangerous to pregnant women; they also voted against an exception for raped children. That’s because these legislators answer to lobbyists, not to medical experts or their own constituents. Most Tennesseans don’t support this ban.

Tennessee’s public schools are poorly funded. Our public-school teachers are poorly paid. Now, against the wishes of most parents and local school boards, our state government is giving public school dollars to private schools through $7,000 vouchers, and to for-profit charter schools. This is a deliberate strategy by Republican legislators to defund and dismantle public education and reward the deep-pocketed “school choice” groups that finance their campaigns.

Most Tennesseans support reasonable laws that make it harder for dangerous or unstable people to get firearms. Unfortunately our Republican legislators answer only to the gun industry. Tennesseans—including children—are paying the price. Between 2011 and 2021, as Republicans loosened our state’s gun laws, the rate of gun deaths of minor children in Tennessee increased 180 percent. The Tennessee GOP has chosen guns over kids every time.