Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton was back on the road this week, bringing the “American Dream Lives in Tennessee” bus tour across our state.
By my count, this marks at least four statewide tours: “Road to Victory” in 2020, “Tennessee Works” in 2022, when Governor Bill Lee joined the tour, “Tennessee Freedom Tour” in 2024, and this year’s “American Dream Lives in Tennessee.”
I made three of Monday’s five stops, beginning at 1 p.m. at Midland Plaza in Blount County, followed by 2:45 p.m. at Knox Wholesale Furniture Clearance Center on Kingston Pike, east of West Town Mall. The day wrapped up at 6 p.m. at the Campbell County Republican Party’s Lincoln-Reagan Dinner.
Tuesday morning, I caught up with the bus again at 8 a.m. at the Tellico Village Yacht Club in Loudon County.
Knox and Loudon counties each drew well over 125 people. Campbell County had an even larger crowd, with Republicans traveling from across East Tennessee to celebrate and support our Campbell County party. Blount County’s early-afternoon weekday stop presented a scheduling challenge, but approximately 80 people still turned out. A respectable crowd!
Joining Speaker Sexton during the East Tennessee stops were:
- Damon Hininger, who, along with his wife, has launched Believe in Tennessee.
- Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger and Congressmen Tim Burchett and David Kustoff.
- State Senators Paul Bailey, Becky Massey, Dr. Richard Briggs and Ken Yager.
- State Representatives Tom Stinnett, Dave Wright, Rebecca Alexander, Rick Scarbrough, Lowell Russell, Jason Zachary, Michele Carringer, Elaine Davis, Justin Lafferty and Ed Butler.
- State Representative nominees Jordan Henderson and Noah Smith.
- Knox County Mayor Betsy Henderson and former Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs.
I hope I haven’t left anyone off!
Local officials also joined the crowds along the way, including Blount County Sheriff Jim Berrong and Knox County Sheriff Brent Gibson, with too many others to name individually.
But I am going to point something out about Knox County.
Beyond our state legislative delegation and the federal officials listed above, the Republican elected officials from Knox County I saw participating were Town of Farragut Mayor Alex Cain, State Executive Committeeman Jeremy Coffey, Sheriff Brent Gibson, Mayor Betsy Henderson and yours truly, State Executive Committeeman Brian Hornback.
Where were the others?
Their absence says more about those Knox County Republican officials than it does about Speaker Sexton and our Republican legislature. Showing up matters, especially when fellow Republicans are putting in the miles and doing the work.
Thank you to Speaker Sexton, the organizers and everyone who made time to attend. Four events, plenty of familiar faces and a good opportunity to hear directly from Republican leaders as we head toward Election Day.
Below are my pictures and links to videos from all four events.
