As Tennesseans head to the polls, many candidates across the state have yet to meet face-to-face on the debate stage. While many established Republican incumbents have refused to debate their Democratic opponents, Williamson County voters got to hear from all three candidates for the District 61 Tennessee House seat.
Education and public safety were the big topics of Thursday night’s debate. Democratic nominee Claire Jones and independent candidate Alana LeBlanc both oppose the school voucher program.
More: Who’s on the ballot in Middle Tennessee? Brush up on your candidates with WPLN’s voter guide
“It is taxpayer dollars,” LeBlanc said. “And it goes into private institutions, and it takes away from public education.”
Jones pointed to other states that have adopted the program, which allows parents to put public school funding toward private schools.
“Just in Arizona, we’ve seen that they have expanded their budget, and they’ve had to pull money from other things, like infrastructure,” Jones said. “We already have problems with infrastructure and crumbling roads here.”
On the other hand, incumbent Republican Gino Bulso said he supports vouchers.
“It simply expands the choices available,” Bulso said, “because it now includes private schools, church related schools, charter schools in the mix.”
As for what the candidates will do about keeping their community safe, Bulso lauded measures passed this past legislative session.
“We made sure that we had a (school resource officer) in every public school across the state. We provided funding to make sure the schools were being as safe as possible,” Bulso said.
Bulso also voted in favor of banning signs in the gallery of the statehouse, after the Covenant School shooting inspired a wave of gun reform activism. A judge ruled against the policy, and Bulso proposed a bill that would’ve taken House rules out of the courts’ jurisdiction.
Jones said she supports emergency protective orders, which allow law enforcement to confiscate guns from people deemed a threat to themselves or others. She said the number of guns stolen from cars needs to be addressed.
“The easiest, safest thing that you can do is to lock those firearms up. I am a gun owner. I lock my firearms up because I have curious children,” Jones said. “I’m also running on a 24-hour waiting period. Anyone who needs a gun in 24 hours is either homicidal or suicidal. It is not someone that I want to own a firearm.”
Bulso, meanwhile, touted his connections in state government.
“As you know, we have a Republican supermajority in the House and the Senate. We are going to continue to have a supermajority in the House and the Senate for the foreseeable future. And so, the way to do this is to have a member of that supermajority who has the respect of his colleagues representing District 61 and bringing those dollars back,” Bulso said. “And with all due respect, obviously, to both Alana and Claire, I think I’m in a better position to bring those dollars back because of relationships I have with my colleagues in the Republican caucus, my relationship with Gov. Lee and my relationship with Commissioner Butch Eley.”
The debate’s moderator did not ask the candidates about their position on the state’s abortion ban, but in her closing statements, Jones voiced her support for exceptions. As a nurse, she said the ban makes it harder for healthcare professionals to help women.
“We’re asking physicians to make legal decisions instead of healthcare decisions. One in four women will have a procedure that falls under the umbrella of abortion in her life. Look around the room,” Jones said. “One in four women in states like ours that have such a restrictive abortion ban are three times more likely to die. I’m in my reproductive years. This is extremely important to me. I have daughters. This is health care.”
In response, Bulso reiterated his support for the state’s abortion ban and repeated false claims that the Democratic National Convention had offered free abortions in Chicago.
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