Daily Kos readers know Gayle Jordan. She’s been writing some terrific blogs (the most recent one here) and has been running a terrific campaign to flip the vacant seat in TN SD14.
You may not know her opponent, however: Shane Reeves. He’s not so terrific.
Reeves has been marketing himself as a small business owner, who’s new to politics, and who “respects” Tennessee’s teachers. Well, he recently sold his business (which he inherited) for $66 million and started a bigger one (more on that below), is the son of a former mayor of Murfreesboro (the main city in the region), and sends his children to private school.
Reeves’s business is TwelveStone Health Partners, which provides care for chronically ill patients. But here’s the thing:
Reeves opposes Medicaid expansion in Tennessee and if elected would push instead for “public-private partnerships.” Hmmmm….could there possibly be a conflict of interest down the road?
Why YES! Yes, there could! TwelveStone is already involved with Amerigroup Tennessee, a “provider of Medicaid managed care services” in Tennessee. Just think how much more lucrative it’d be for TwelveStone and Amerigroup if Medicaid did not get expanded and, thanks to Reeves being in the Senate, they were well-positioned to be awarded more contracts?
But that’s not all: TwelveStone’s main competitors are mom-and-pop businesses. This teeny-tiny screenshot is from TwelveStone’s marketing agency, Punching Nun (if you'd prefer to save your eyes, go here!). The strategy, which as you can see thrills Reeves, is to use leadership positions in the community together with distinctive branding to drive out small businesses. Gee...COULD A STATE SENATE SEAT BE THAT SORT OF LEADERSHIP POSITION? What does that mean for smaller healthcare companies if Reeves wins?
The final not terrific thing about Reeves is that he brags about his grades. Yes, he’s the kid in the class who always gets an “A” and then likes to show it off. BUT HIS IS FROM THE NRA — and he has described himself as “100% pro-gun.”
BUT Gayle Jordan IS terrific and people are beginning to realize it. She’s gaining traction and has received endorsements and support from unions and civic groups. THIS SEAT CAN BE FLIPPED! Just this past December Tennessee Republicans retained a Senate seat by only 308 votes with more than 10,000 votes cast (read details here) in a district the Democrats hadn’t fielded a candidate in for years. Gayle’s got the kind of ground game that can beat those odds (don’t mess with an Ironman triathlete/lawyer/farmer/mother-of-four). And she’s totally cool beans!
Please do what you can to help her out: donate, volunteer (including out-of-state phone banking and postcard writing), call anyone you know in Tennessee and ask them to spread the word. Turnout for special elections is usually pathetically low. We can win this with a strong GOTV effort and keep the Trump mini-me far from Nashville!