We Can Do This Together.

Medicare for All

In the richest country on earth, no person should suffer because they cannot afford necessary medical treatment, hospital visits, or prescription medication. Nearly 700,000 Tennesseans are living that reality while politicians dismantle our state healthcare system. Justin will continue his years-long fight to preserve and expand Tennesseans’ right to healthcare by protecting the Affordable Care Act, fighting for reproductive rights, and supporting Medicare for All. It is time to remove the profit motive from healthcare and build a system that centers people, addresses outrageous costs, and guarantees quality care to every person living in the United States. Until that day comes, he will protect the Affordable Care Act and advocate for the state to expand Medicaid coverage.

We cannot stand for a system that leaves private insurers in the driver’s seat while many, even those with employer insurance, are forced to ration their care. Justin will join 118 members of Congress in sponsoring a single-payer program and end our nation’s crisis of preventable suffering and medical debt that destroys lives and families every day. With Medicare for All we will increase coverage, expand primary care in underserved communities, and reduce out-of-pocket expenses.

Environmental Justice

The U.S. has a responsibility to address the existential threat of climate change and ensure a livable future for Americans and communities across the world. We have the solutions and must act in line with the consensus of the global scientific community. The Green New Deal provides a path forward guided by principles of environmental, economic, and racial justice.

Minority and low-income communities in Nashville are disproportionately subjected to poorer air quality, higher asthma rates, and greater risk under extreme heat, cold, and flooding. Agriculture-based economies in Tennessee suffer from increasingly unpredictable weather conditions. Justin will stand up to corporations who poison our communities and profit from environmental destruction. He has pledged to reject campaign contributions from the coal, oil, and gas industry, which give millions to politicians to obstruct climate action. In office, Justin will advance the just and ethical path outlined by the Green New Deal to reach a 100% clean and renewable society, prioritizing workers and the most vulnerable communities.

Building a Welcoming America

Over the past year, our district has seen ICE agents target our neighbors in schools, at the grocery store, and in their own driveways. This district needs an elected official who stands in solidarity with immigrant and refugee communities, not a representative who votes to militarize the border and funds Trump’s deportation machine. Justin will join the movement to Abolish ICE and build a immigration process accountable to human rights standards by restructuring through the Justice and State Departments. Justin will fight to shut down facilities that profit from detaining immigrants and refugees and work to demilitarize the border. The immigration enforcement industry has created jobs for thousands of families, Justin will focus on developing alternative employment opportunities and focus on long term workforce development.

Justin believes in ensuring due process for all people from students, construction workers, farmworkers, asylum seekers, refugees and the countless others who strengthen the US. Justin is with the majority of America in supporting paths to citizenship.

Affordable, Equitable Higher Education

As states slash funding for higher education, colleges and universities have responded by sharply raising tuition and cutting educational services. This has left over 45 million students across the country burdened with a lifetime of debt. We must recommit to quality, affordable higher education by making public colleges and universities tuition-free. While politicians have prioritized corporate tax cuts and bank bail-outs, Justin will fight for a one-time cancellation of student loan debt for young people across the country.

We must address the historic inequalities that black Americans face in obtaining higher education. Justin will fight for investment in HBCUs like Nashville’s Tennessee State University, American Baptist College, Meharry Medical College, and Justin’s alma mater Fisk University. HBCUs across the country must be fully funded and affordable for students, particularly now when many face funding crises because of a lack of leadership in Washington.

An Economy for People

Middle Tennessee is home to thriving industries including construction, healthcare, agriculture, tourism and many others. However, thriving business does not equate to thriving wages or safe work conditions. Justin will advocate for Tennessee workers to ensure that all are treated fairly, paid living wages, and have equal protection under the law. Justin stands with working families to fight for an economy that values people above profits. Justin’s campaign is funded by small dollars and people, not corporations.

Justin will fight for a better working economy. This will require comprehensive efforts to address: workers compensation, workforce development, safety and training, protections for working people, a federal jobs guarantee, a living wage, and the power of organized labor. Justin supports a regulation of massive industry including protections against wage-theft, sexual harrasment, and discrimination. While Middle Tennessee attracts attention for its building boom, construction workers face on-site injuries and deaths. This issue disproportionately affects immigrant communities and it is time to ensure a dignified workplace for those who are building up Middle Tennessee.

Justin supports a modernized tax code to ensure that corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay back into our democracy. People will never come first as long as corporations dictate the rules of our democracy.

End Mass Incarceration

America has the highest rate of incarceration in the world and a structurally racist legal system that disproportionately polices, sentences, and incarcerates black and brown communities. Nowhere feels this more than North Nashville, a historically black and majority black neighborhood. In 2018, the Brookings Institute listed 37208 as the most incarcerated zip code in the United States. The Corrections Corporation of America—founded in Nashville and recently rebranded as CoreCivic—built the nation’s private prison industry and still operates over 100 prisons and immigrant detention facilities across the nation. In 2018, CoreCivic reported $1.83 billion in revenue.

Justin supports alternatives to incarceration like diversion programs and reformed parole and probation processes. He supports ending federal contracts with private prison corporations, including CoreCivic, and demilitarizing the police. He stands against inhumane policies like cash bail and mandatory minimums. The state cannot continue to take life in the name of the people and Justin supports ending the death penalty at all levels.

Mass incarceration and the “war on drugs” have torn apart families and communities for decades. To rebuild them, Justin will advocate for a comprehensive, sustained effort to strengthen communities affected most. This includes addressing the racial wealth gap, income inequality, barriers to higher education, affordable and high quality healthcare (including mental health), and access to housing and transportation.