Lincoln County DemocratsThanks for being a part of our community here in Lincoln County!
We want to hear from you – will you take our 2019 Community Survey? Your feedback is important — having a strong community starts with all of us making our voices heard.
Thanks for everyone that’s signed up to work the Lincoln County Fair Booth so far. We were able to fill out about half of the slots so far.
If you haven’t signed up yet, we need your help. Here’s the remaining slots that we have open:
For our fair project to be most effective, it’s crucial that we fill these remaining slots. If you can work any of those times, sign up using the form below.
Feel free to pick as many times as you’d like to work the booth. Some people pick one – others pick several. It’s entirely up to you!
As our way of saying thanks, everyone who works a time slot will get a free t-shirt along with tickets to the fair itself. So please – if you’re able to help out, sign up for one of those remaining open spots!
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It’s debate week! Here’s what you need to know fo the second round of Democratic Debates.
What time does it start?
Debates begin at 7pm Central on both Tuesday July 30th and Wednesday July 31st.
Where can I watch?
Tune in to CNN, or listen on Westwood One radio.
Who’s appearing each night?
Tuesday’s lineup includes Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar, Marianne Williamson, John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Tim Ryan, Steve Bullock.
Wednesday’s lineup includes Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Andrew Yang, Julián Castro, Tulsi Gabbard, Michael Bennet, Jay Inslee, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bill de Blasio.
I heard there’s a bingo card?
Yep! You can add a bit more fun to your debate watching with this bingo card.
In observance of Independence Day, we’re sharing a speech President Barack Obama gave for a weekly address in July 2014.
It was 238 years ago that our Founders came together in Philadelphia to launch our American experiment. There were farmers and businessmen, doctors and lawyers, ministers and a kite-flying scientist.
Those early patriots may have come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but they were united by a belief in a simple truth: that we are all created equal, that we are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Over the years, that belief has sustained us through war and Depression, peace and prosperity. It’s helped us build the strongest democracy, the greatest middle class, and the most powerful military the world has ever known. And today, there isn’t a nation on Earth that wouldn’t gladly trade places with the United States of America.
But our success is only possible because we have never treated those self-evident truths as self-executing. Generations of Americans have marched, organized, petitioned, fought, and even died to extend those rights to others, to widen the circle of opportunity for others, and to perfect this Union we love so much.
That’s why I want to say a special thanks to the men and women of our Armed Forces and the families who serve with them, especially those servicemembers who spent this most American of holidays serving your country far from home.
You keep us safe, and you keep the United States of America a shining beacon of hope for the world. And for that, you and your families deserve not only the appreciation of a grateful nation, but our enduring commitment to serve you as well as you’ve served us.
God bless you all, and have a great weekend.
Mark your calendars – the first meeting for both the Fundraising Committee and the GOTV Committee will be Monday July 22nd at 6pm. We’ll get organized and start planning out the work.
We’ll meet at FLCWorks, the community coworking space on the square. It’s 102 Elk Avenue North. When you’re looking at the community garden there, you’ll see a black metal staircase to your left with a red door at the top. We’ll also have signs out so you know where to go.
Bring a notebook, a pen, and any ideas you’ve got!
Hospital closures. The opioid epidemic. Medical debt crushing friends and neighbors in our communities. Hundreds of thousands of Tennessee families without access to health coverage.
Despite 63% of Tennesseans support for expanding Medicaid, our representatives won’t act. Rural communities like Lincoln County are in trouble all because our state representatives won’t bring Medicaid expansion up for a vote.
Tennesseans are losing out on $3.8 million every day because our state legislators won’t expand Medicaid. That’s $3.8 million every day in federal funding going to other states when it could be directed to our hospitals and our communities. It’s money that could provide our neighbors with health coverage while bringing down our own insurance rates at the same time.
Call and email our state legislators. You can find their contact info here.Urge them to bring up a vote on expanding Medicaid.
While you’re at it, write a letter to our local newspaper – the Elk Valley Times. You can find the Letter to the Editor contact info here. Our legislators pay attention to what’s being published in local newspapers.
It’s the right thing to do to ensure our rural communities survive.
We’ve got two great new committees that are forming – one focused on Getting Out the Vote and one focused on Fundraising for our local efforts.
Fundraising – More money gives us more options when it comes to strategy. The Fundraising Committee will focus on raising money through events, dinners, merchandise, digital campaigns, etc.
GOTV – Voter turnout is all about knowing who we’ve talked to and who plans to vote. Our Get Out The Vote Committee will focus on registration drives, door-to-door canvassing, and other creative approaches to registering voters and getting them to the polls.
If you’re interested in volunteering in either of those areas, send us a message below. Or if you’ve got another area that you’re interested working in, let us know.
Let’s keep the momentum going as we work to build a better community for everyone here in Lincoln County!
[contact-form-7 id=”2794″ title=”New Committees”]The first presidential debates of the 2020 Democratic Primary kicks off this week!
With a dozen candidates vying for the nomination, the Democratic Party split the first debate into two nights with ten candidates appearing each night.
The first group of 10 appearing on Wednesday, June 26:
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren; Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke; New Jersey Sen. CoryBooker; Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; former HUD Secretary Julián Castro; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan; and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.
The second group of 10 appearing on Thursday, June 27:
Former Vice-Presiden Joe Biden; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; California Sen. Kamala Harris; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; California Rep. Eric Swalwell; entrepreneur Andrew Yang; and self-help author Marianne Williamson.
Four other candidates failed to meet the polling and donation thresholds for this debate so won’t be appearing. Those four are Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, Miramar, Fla., Mayor Wayne Messam, and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel.
Hosted by NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, the debates features five moderators: “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt, “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and “Noticias Telemundo” host José Diaz-Balart.
You can watch the debate on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo starting at 8:00pm on each night. It’ll also be streaming for free on NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, and the NBC News app.
Make sure to mark your calendars! We’ve got some great events coming up this month.
Three Star Dinner – Saturday June 22nd at 6pm
We’ve reserved a table at this year’s TNDP Three Star Dinner in Nashville. The Three Star Dinner is the annual fundraising dinner for the Tennessee Democratic Party, underwriting the upcoming year’s programs and projects. This annual celebration attracts national speakers and brings Democrats together to get fired up for the work ahead!
This year’s keynote speaker is Senator Kyrsten Sinema. We’ve got eight open seats at the table so if you’re interested in attending, send us a message to let us know!
June Party Meeting – Saturday June 29th at Noon
Our June party meeting is set for Saturday June 29th at noon. Come out and hear from Jordan Wilkins, the newly elected chair of the Tennessee Democratic Chairs Association! We’ll talk ideas for our community and plans for growing our local party.
We’ll meet at the Municipal Auditorium at 110 Elk Avenue South – Fayetteville, TN 37334. If you’re on Facebook, please share our public event for this here!
As always, let us know if you have any questions on any of these events or anything else going on with our local Democratic party.
We hope to see you at one of those events in June!
Update (May 1st): The conference committee version passes the House 51-46. Despite scare local support and two local boards of education voicing opposition to the bill, both of our representatives – Marsh and Tillis – voted in favor of the ESA voucher legislation.
In the Senate, the bill passes 19-14 with Senator Reeves voting yes. From here, it goes to Governor Lee’s desk to be signed. After that, it’ll most likely be challenged in the courts for parts considered unconstitutional.
Original: After being deadlocked 49-49 on the ESA school voucher bill, our state House passed the voucher bill 50-48 thanks to Representative Jason Zachary, of Knoxville, flipping his original no vote to a yes vote. The Senate version of the bill passed 20-13.
For our own legislators, Senator Reeves along with Representatives Marsh and Tillis voted in favor of the voucher bill.
The voucher bill heads to conference committee next. Then it’ll be back before the House and the Senate for a final vote.
Here’s the issues legislators will focus on in the conference.
That means you should keep calling and emailing our reps!
Sen. Shane Reeves
Email: sen.shane.reeves@capitol.tn.gov
Phone: 615-741-1066
Rep. Pat Marsh
Email: rep.pat.marsh@capitol.tn.gov
Phone: (615) 741-6824
Rep. Rick Tillis
Email: rep.rick.tillis@capitol.tn.gov
Phone: (615) 741-4170
If you’ve never talked with your state legislators before, it can be difficult to know exactly what to say. Here’s a few of the common talking points I’ve seen from representatives that voted yes on the House version of the bill.
This legislation creates a pilot program for some of the worst schools and the poorest families that would affect only 2 to 4 counties in the state. These counties have 99% of the failing schools in our state.
Representatives from those 2-4 counties have overwhelmingly voiced opposition to vouchers. Most notably, Knoxville Rep. Jason Zachary only voted yes after he received promises of Knoxville being exempt from the ESA program.
For the representatives of the remaining Tennessee counties to force those 2-4 into voucher programs doesn’t seem like a conservative approach. Local school boards and governments know best what their students need. We’d be infuriated if a representative from Shelby county came into Lincoln County and tried to dictate how to operate our local schools. That’s in essence what we’re doing to those 2-4 counties.
78% of Tennesseans polled are in favor of some sort of ESAs.
This poll comes from American Federation for Children, a pro-voucher organization. A 2018 poll by the same group shows that Tennesseans were opposed to vouchers. A 2017 poll from the same group also shows a lack of majority support for vouchers.
The frustrating part of this AFC 2019 poll is the incredibly small sample size. It was conducted by telephone in a five day period from January 31 to February 4 by Mason-Dixon polling. Only 625 people participated. Our state population is north of 6 million so 625 participants is almost meaningless.
One last point on that poll – the Tennessee State Director of American Federation for Children, Shaka Mitchell, is a former regional director for Rocketship charter schools. We’re getting flawed ESA legislation trying to match up with a single seriously flawed poll.
Many people from Lincoln County are pushing for us to at least give it a try.
Lincoln County is overwhelmingly against this ESA legislation. It’s received opposition from both Republicans and Democrats. It’s been opposed by both our county board of education as well as the city board of education. Both our county school director and city school director oppose it.
It does not take any money away from our District. This year we have in our budget $6.5 billion for K-12 education. We’re working hard to continue our commitment to support our District’s great public schools.
Education is the silver bullet. Better education leads to better jobs, more stable families, and improves every area of the community. It reduces unemployment in communities, reduces dependence on public assistance programs, reduces crime, improves public health, and increases civic engagement. If we want a better community – a better Lincoln County – we need to focus our resources on public schools instead of redirecting that money elsewhere.
Again, it’s a pilot program. Let’s see if it works. If not, we can stop it.
ESAs and school vouchers aren’t pilot programs any longer. They’ve been around long enough, tested in enough states, and researched enough to know the results.
Education professor Martin Carnoy analyzed 25 years of research and found that voucher programs do not significantly improve test scores. Professor Carnoy says vouchers distract from proven policies and programs with proven impact on test scores and graduation rates.
A few other things to keep in mind: