Tennessee State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) said California Governor Gavin Newsom should pay more attention to his state’s problems after Newsom’s super-PAC released an advertisement attacking Tennessee for proposing a parental rights bill.
Zachary made his comments in a phone interview on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Monday.
“For some governor in a woke state, in a blue state, with a $70 billion annual deficit worrying about what’s going on in Tennessee, I think he needs to mind his own business… unless he’s running for president,” he told Leahy.
“He does seem to have this weird obsession with Tennessee, and I think it may just be because we’re winning,” Zachary continued.
The Tennessee Star previously reported on Newsom’s super PAC—Campaign for Democracy—and its new video advertisement, which features a young woman handcuffed to a hospital bed and claimed “Trump Republicans” in Tennessee were criminalizing women for receiving necessary healthcare.
Newsom posted the video ad to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday and told his followers that “Republicans in Tennessee are trying to punish young women that travel to receive care.”
Tennessee’s abortion ban has no exceptions if you have been raped.
No exceptions if you’re the victim of incest.
Now, Republicans in Tennessee are trying to punish young women that travel to receive care.
The Tennessee GOP aren’t alone in their cruelty.
We have to fight back.… pic.twitter.com/ScJwPvK18J
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 25, 2024
Zachary, a sponsor of the Tennessee House version of the legislation, responded on X to Newsom’s post by saying the governor “continues to deceive and gaslight.” Zachary pointed out that the bill in question, HB 1895/SB 1971, does not prohibit pregnant women from receiving healthcare or create any criminal penalties against pregnant women.
In the post, he added that he would be willing to debate Newsom.
The Governor of CA continues to deceive and gaslight.
TN is standing on strong conservative principles. We are running an important parental rights bill. The bill prohibits an adult who is not the parent/guardian of a minor from facilitating an abortion for that minor without… https://t.co/pVhxT26fmz— Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) February 25, 2024
“I literally will debate him on this topic tomorrow if I got a heads up and could do it,” Zachary told Leahy. “I’d walk in there and call him out for the lies, man. This kind of stuff is what the left does all the time.”
“I mean, we don’t allow children to make decisions,” Zachary said to Leahy about the bill. “We don’t allow them to receive medical treatment except for a couple of abuse situations in code. It requires the parental consent. So why would that be any different for a vulnerable teen who has gotten pregnant and is preyed upon… It should always be the parents’ right to say, ‘Yes’ or ‘No.'”
The Star previously reported that after Campaign for Democracy released the advertisement, The Sacramento Bee speculated Newsom, a Democrat, was positioning himself to replace incumbent presidential candidate Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.
Newsom can continue to collaborate with Campaign for Democracy until he begins a run for federal office, The Star noted.
In August 2023, the Tennessee Democratic Party scheduled Newsom to speak at a Nashville fundraiser, though the governor did not show up.
In November, the California governor posted to X that Murfreesboro, Tennessee, had recently “banned being gay in public.”
A city in Tennessee has banned being gay in public.
This is just the beginning. We have to call this out. https://t.co/0G1i7dKTgp
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) November 16, 2023
The post gained widespread attention, but the law Newsom referred to was language from a 1949 statute that defined prohibited “sexual conduct” as “homosexuality,” The Daily News Journal reported. The city council had recently removed the language from Murfreesboro code, and the city manager said the city had no recollection of ever enforcing that law, the news outlet added.
From 2021 to 2022, 22,500 people moved from California to Tennessee, The Star previously reported. A site called exitcalifornia.org features advice and incentives for Californians seeking to relocate to the Volunteer State, including Tennessee’s affordability in comparison to California.
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.
