Issues

For more than 200 years, the Democratic Party has led the fight for civil rights, health care, Social Security, workers’ rights, and women’s rights. We are the party of Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, FDR, and the countless everyday Americans who work each day to build a more perfect union. Here are the issues that drive our work in Davidson County:

Racial Justice

Structural racism touches every part of American society, including and especially our criminal justice system. Black Lives Matter. Structural racism is real. What happened to George Floyd was murder. We feel the urgency to take meaningful action to change laws and policy, because lives depend on it. We believe in centering the voices of Black leaders in the fight for racial justice.

LGBTQ+ Rights

Democrats celebrate members of the LGBTQ+ community and stand with them in their fight for equality. We are committed to ending anti-LGBTQ+ violence, bullying, and discrimination. LGBTQ+ Americans should be treated with dignity and respect in every facet of their lives in every community across our country.

Reproductive Freedom

With a radical Supreme Court overturning decades of precedent, women’s rights have never been more vulnerable. Sexual health and reproductive autonomy are fundamental to every American’s freedom. Sexuality is a natural and positive part of our lives. Tennesseans should have access to accurate and complete information about sexual and reproductive health based on the best available science. The doctor’s office is no place for state government and government should not be making health care decisions for women.

Medicaid

Expanding Medicaid would bring coverage to all essential workers! Many of the workers that were deemed essential do not get healthcare through their employer. Medicaid. “Expansion” is just that – expanding coverage to people that work for a living but don’t get health insurance through their employer. Every essential worker deserves to be able to go to the Doctor when sick without fear of going broke. Medicaid Expansion is also good economics. It would add 15,000 new jobs and strengthen already weak hospitals.

Gun-violence Prevention

Congress needs to re-instate the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons ban which expired in 2004 under President George W. Bush and a Republican trifecta. In late March 2023 Nashville experienced its own tragic loss of life when an active shooter, armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, took the lives of six people at The Covenant School.

Expanding background checks and investing in intervention are two ways we can take meaningful action around this issue as well. Direct state funds and resources into supporting groups that are already effectively interrupting cycles of violence with an evidenced-based approach to reducing gun violence such as Gideon’s Army.

Voting Rights

The Democratic Party was founded on the promise of an expanded democracy. The right to vote is at the heart of our national vision. It is a core principle of the Democratic Party to maximize voter participation for all Americans. Our democracy suffers when nearly two thirds of our citizens do not or cannot participate, as in the last midterm elections. Democrats believe we must make it easier to vote, not harder.

Decriminalizing Marijuana

Decriminalizing marijuana will reduce financial strain on our criminal justice system and be a huge boon to our tax coffers. 88% of people surveyed in Tennessee support some form of legalization of marijuana in our state, however the legislature has consistently failed to approve legalization of cannabis of any kind.

Education

We support public schools and oppose vouchers. The governor’s budget includes a pay raise for himself, but not a COLA for teachers. You can’t be pro-education if you’re not for teachers. Teachers today earn less than they did 20 years ago. This undermines our ability to invest in our future. If we can’t attract high quality educators, we won’t be able to compete for high paying jobs. Further complicating this, 1/3 of our teachers qualify for retirement. If all of them were to retire right now, that would be catastrophic for public education in Tennessee.

Environment

Democrats believe that climate change poses a real and urgent threat to our economy, our national security, and our children’s health and futures; Americans deserve the jobs and security that come from becoming the clean energy superpower of the 21st century. 

Democrats are committed to curbing the effects of climate change, protecting America’s natural resources, and ensuring the quality of our air, water, and land for current and future generations. From investing in clean energy to protecting our ecosystems, Democrats are working to address our biggest environmental challenges, paving the way to a more sustainable America.

Immigration

Immigrants are hard-working, valued members of our society, yet Republicans policies relentlessly target our immigrant community. 74% of Tennesseans believe immigrants should be legally allowed to live and work in Tennessee in some capacity. [Vanderbilt Poll, Spring 2019] Direct deportation is not the preferred approach of Tennesseans to decrease illegal immigration. Most (55%) prefer cracking down on companies and corporations who are exploiting immigrant workers. [Vanderbilt Poll, Spring 2019]

Union Members & Families

Labor unions helped build America’s middle class, and organized labor remains critical to fulfilling America’s basic bargain: If you work hard and do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. Much of what we now take for granted — the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, health insurance, paid leave, pensions, Social Security and Medicare — were made possible by the hard work and dedicated struggle of America’s labor movement. 

We need to strengthen and protect Tennessee's workforce; labor unions are under siege by the Republican supermajority in the state legislature. The Davidson County Democratic Party adamantly opposes any further attempts to enhance so-called “Right to Work” laws, as well as efforts to eliminate dues deductions for public employees, and attempts to privatize public services. We support the restoration of workers’ rights to collective bargaining, as well as equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex, gender, etc. as well as an increase in the federal minimum wage.