House Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Sparks has defeated immigrant rights activist Luis Mata to be reelected to his seat, which he has held since 2010.
Sparks supports charter schools and the school voucher program, in addition to investing in public schools. He has said that Rutherford County’s overburdened school system has been caused by illegal immigrants.
In the past two years, Sparks has sponsored legislation to make gun sales tax-exempt, to impose the death penalty on drug dealers who use fentanyl and to increase protections for juvenile offenders during police interrogations.
His opponent ran on a platform of eliminating the state’s grocery tax, fixing roads, investing in job creation and funding public schools.
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