A state representative who announced her run for U.S. Senate Tuesday once told a news outlet that North Korea was more democratic than Tennessee.
“I feel like North Korea has more democracy than we do in the state of Tennessee, and it’s terrifying to me that we’re in this march to fascism,” State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) told Mother Jones in April. “And it seems like the Tennessee supermajority is leading the charge.”
“When my folks sent me here, they knew I was vocal, and they knew I would stand up and I would be their voice,” she said later in the interview. “And that’s why they sent me here. There’s no question about that. Everybody in the state knows that.”
Johnson (pictured above) announced that she will challenge Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in the upcoming election cycle.
“If Gloria Johnson thinks North Korea is more democratic than Tennessee, imagine how she’d vote on bills to strengthen our military and democracy abroad,” Blackburn campaign spokesperson Abigail Spigler told The Tennessee Star Wednesday. “Radical socialists like State Rep. Johnson would work in step with President Biden to embolden regimes like North Korea, while Senator Blackburn has repeatedly fought to confront the New Axis of Evil and support our servicemembers.”
Johnson’s campaign did not return a comment request.
The state representative has made gun control the central issue of her long shot bid for office
In a text message to potential supporters sent just after her Tuesday announcement, Johnson used the deaths of six people in a mass shooting at The Covenant School in March as a political club:
I’m running for Senate because Tennesseans deserve better. Period.
Thousands of Tennesseans descended on the state Capitol to demand action on gun violence prevention, but the GOP majority refused to hear them. So two of my colleagues and I stood up to join their historic protest. We couldn’t let the Covenant families, young people, & parents from across the state stand alone.
The GOP majority took quick action, but not to prevent gun violence. Both my colleagues, Justin J. Pearson & Justin Jones, were expelled. I was spared. Then the GOP majority passed a new law to increase access to guns.
MAGA Republicans in Nashville & DC don’t give a damn about everyday Tennesseans.
Environmentalist Marquita Bradshaw, who won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in a race against Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) in 2020, has also declared her candidacy.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
Photo “Gloria Johnson” by Gloria Johnson. Background Photo “Article” by Mother Jones.
