TN-59 GOP Candidate Michelle Foreman Talks New District Boundaries, Her Opponent, and Campaigning in the Heat
Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Tennessee’s 59th Congressional District GOP candidate and former psychiatric nurse Michelle Foreman in-studio to discuss her districts boundaries, her opponent, and campaigning in the heat.
Leahy: Right now we are joined in-studio by our very good friend Michelle with two L’s, Foreman. Good morning, Michelle.
Foreman: Good morning. How are you?
Leahy: We’re doing great. You are a candidate in this August 4th Republican primary.
Foreman: Yes.
Leahy: You have an opponent, and it’s a contested race, and you’re running in the 59th House District. This is a new district.
Foreman: This is brand new. So this goes along the southern border of Davidson County, starting over in the far southwest where Highway 98 and 100 meet.
Comes across the lower part of Bellevue and West Meade and Belle Meade, Forest Hills, Oak Hill, all the way over to Cane Ridge.
Leahy: So if we were to say, well, in the boundaries of the new district, I guess currently they’re split up between three Democrat members of the House of Representatives, roughly. Bob Freeman and Jason Potts…
Foreman: And Bo Mitchell. Right.
Leahy: But it’s been split up, and so it’s a new district. There’s no incumbent, I guess none of those guys who will be running on the Democrat side in the general election?
Foreman: Bo Mitchell’s brother-in-law.
Leahy: You kidding me?
Foreman: No. So you take those original districts were pushed upward, which left the bottom portion of the county open, if you will. And so Bo Mitchell’s brother-in-law will be the decision. Right.
Leahy: Trying to keep it all in the Democratic family.
Foreman: Right.
Leahy: So he’s uncontested.
Foreman: He is uncontested. He had no opponent in his primary.
Leahy: But you’ve got an opponent.
Foreman: I do.
Leahy: What’s his name? Wyatt somebody.
Foreman: Wyatt Rampy.
Leahy: Wyatt, I haven’t heard from you, but you’re welcome to come on the show anytime you want and put forward your case. The district, I think, when you look at the redistricting so, of course, the most well-known redistricting in the country, I think, is the Congressional redistricting of the 5th Congressional District.
Foreman: Yes. I think so.
Leahy: Which basically went from a Democrat plus-20 district and was safely Democratic since 1875. Democrats represented the 5th Congressional District. It was called a Dem 20. It was mostly Davidson County with a little bit of Cheatham and Dickson.
Jim Cooper represented the district since before the dawn of time – 2003, I think, but even more. But that district was redesigned, and now it’s an R plus-11, I think, I feel, hotly contested.
Foreman: Yes.
Leahy: And that so many people want to get the seat, because if you win the Republican primary on August 4, you’ve got a good chance of, a very good chance you’re likely to be elected in November.
The Democrats do have a candidate running unopposed, Heidi Campbell, State Senator, who is a far-lefty but a tough campaigner.
And not somebody to take lightly if you’re a Republican now. What’s interesting about this is if you look at the likely voters in this new district, does it lean slightly Republican? What is it?
Foreman: It does. It leans a little Republican. R plus-4, I’ve heard R plus-6. That means to me R plus two, maybe four, if we’re lucky.
There is a slight lean, and considering what’s going on in the country today, it does look like the Republicans will be able to take this seat again, working hard and not taking anything for granted.
Leahy: And you want to be that Republican …
Foreman: Absolutely.
Leahy: … who comes in. You want to win the August 4 primary.
Foreman: Absolutely.
Leahy: So we’ll talk about that. And we’ll also talk about what you’re seeing. You’re doing a lot of what, door-to-door out there.
Foreman: A lot of door-to-door.
Leahy: In, like 95-degree heat,
Foreman: I would say 100 degrees, 100 degrees plus easily.
Leahy: 100 degrees plus. Yikes!
Foreman: Yes.
Leahy: We’ll talk about that. And, of course, Election Day is three weeks from tomorrow. I know early voting begins Friday, the day after tomorrow. Hey, this election is here. We’ll talk more with Michelle Foreman, one of the candidates for the Republican nomination in the 59th House seat, after this.
Listen to the interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.