Making her way through West Tennessee, state Senate hopeful Marsha Blackburn stopped in Covington on Saturday, June 30.
In between stops at the Court Square Farmer’s Market and meeting with local law enforcement officials, she sat down to discuss a few of the major issues facing Tennesseans.
Support for the President
“By and large, Tennesseans will tell me that they want to have a conservative U.S. senator. They want to have a senator who’s going to support President Trump in getting his agenda finished and across the finish line.”
Tax cuts
“Tax cuts are working across Tennessee and people want to see more of those tax cuts. They know that my opponent came out and said right when the tax cuts passed, that he would’ve voted against them. And as you can see right here in West Tennessee there are businesses that are small businesses that are hiring and growing. There are larger employers that are doing a significant amount of growth. FedEx gave bonuses and raised wages, as did a couple of the banks, and a couple of the different employers. Tax cuts are working and more people want to see more of it. I have a record of voting for tax cuts. I have led the fight against a state income tax. It was a four-year fight. I was talking with a group up in Brownsville this morning. We were talking about Governor Wilder, who was the lieutenant governor here from West Tennessee, much-loved. Governor Wilder has always said that my work making sure we killed that state income tax was so significant in being able to grow and develop. Then I went to Congress. The first thing I worked on, the significant piece, was to restore the ability of Tennesseans. People in non-income tax states who deduct sales tax, you pay every year you deduct from your federal income tax filing. That was worth about a billion dollars in savings, about a billion dollar tax cut for Tennesseans, and when my opponent was governor he raised taxes about a billion dollars.”
Immigration Issues
“Tennesseans also talk about the immigration issue. They want someone to stand with President Trump and secure the Southern border. They talk about the importance of doing that because of gangs, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, labor trafficking and they want to end sanctuary city policies. They want to stop chain migration, and end that visa diversity lottery. They know that I stand with President Trump, and that I am going to vote to build that wall, and end those sanctuary cities, chain migration, and the visa lottery. I don’t think there is any reason someone should come here because their name got picked or drawn out of a hat. We have so many West Tennessee farmers that are in desperate need of ag workers, and those slots ought to be going to ag workers, and high tech workers, and people that our companies here are needing to employ. People remember that my opponent, when he was governor, he gave driving certificates to illegal aliens, and that was a certified state-legal document. People felt that was the wrong step.”
Supreme Court
“Another thing they bring up is Supreme Court. They want to have a senator who is going to support President Trump’s nominee for Supreme Court. They liked having Justice Gorsuch on the court. They think that he has done a great job. They also talk about the Federal Bench. We’ve got federal courthouses in Memphis and Jackson. They want to make certain we fill out the district court, circuit court and court of appeals. And that we have another justice like Justice Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. “
“Those are the main issues they talk about. They like that the economy is doing well, that we are down three percent or less on unemployment, the lowest it’s been. We have the lowest African American unemployment rates ever. The lowest Hispanic unemployment rates ever. Good wage growth, and good upward mobility in jobs which shows Tennessee is doing really well.”
Currently a U.S. Congressman serving Tennessee’s 7th District, Blackburn is running for U.S. Senate to fill the seat which will be vacated by longtime Senator Bob Corker. Former governor Phil Bredesen is considered the democratic front-runner.
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