Mastodawn

I don't usually post this kind of stuff but while #Aftyn lost last night's #TN-7. That it was 9% difference is a massive upset.

Tennessee's fifth, sixth, and seventh district is from Nashville being split into thirds and then being smeared with large safe Republican areas. Tennessee's seventh also includes some of Williamson county but the line there is designed to split known Democrats between the fifth and seventh.

When the State Assembly created these districts in 2022, they indicated they were gerrymandering to punish Democrats. They spent money to obtain research and ensure they could make as many safe +20R or better districts.

But last night all those best laid plans of theirs came up with a lot less fruit. A district that should have required zero effort came within 16,000 votes of flipping.

I'm pretty sure the Tennessee State Assembly will punish us again by purging rolls, redrawing lines, and closing even more polling locations. But we'll be back come November. Every county, that I've seen so far, grew in number of Democrats. Every county I've seen so far has kept the same number of Republicans or loss some in this election.

Now that's based on what I've seen so far but that might change. But that's still huge news. It shows that the TN GOP are on the ropes. Nobody turns districts blue or red overnight. But this election is definitely a sign there's some crumble to their foundation.

I'm proud of TN-7. The Democrats had a ground game of thousands of volunteers, something you don't see in this state. There's absolutely a thirst for a change from the establishment TN GOP that have gone out of their way to consolidate power only to have it come lacking when they needed it most.

I know they're going to punish us. I know they're going to do things to consolidate their power more. I know they aren't going to take this narrow win sitting down. But the Democrats in Tennessee ain't sitting down on this either. For the result we got, Aftyn and her team did great. And we'll all be back.