Primary Results Show Tennesseans Don’t Want to Return to a Second-Rate Education

NASHVILLE — Team Kid PAC and Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) are celebrating the critical role foundational education policies played in tonight’s state primary and the mandate members of the Tennessee General Assembly will now take to Nashville next year to preserve them.

Leading up to the August state primary, Team Kid PAC focused its efforts to inform voters about candidates who support preserving higher academic standards and meaningful accountability systems to measure results. Research has shown Tennessee’s commitment to high expectations has driven academic improvements since lawmakers enacted them more than a decade ago.

During the recent legislative session, these foundational education policies faced concerning challenges and Team Kid PAC made a strategic decision to engage in multiple primaries across the state on this issue. The following Team Kid PAC supported candidates won:

• SD8 – Jessie Seal
• SD18 – Ferrell Haile (incumbent)
• HD33 – Rick Scarbrough
• HD65 – Lee Reeves
• HD68 – Aron Maberry
• HD73 – Chris Todd (incumbent)
• HD77 – Rusty Grills (incumbent)
• HD 78 – Mary Littleton (incumbent)

“Tonight’s results drive home the value voters place on education and preserving the high academic standards and accountability Tennessee’s last three governors worked hard to create,” said Lana Skelo, President and CEO of Tennesseans for Student Success. “Tennesseans do not want our state to return to a second-rate education system and the candidates who won tonight reflect that. The message is clear for the Tennessee General Assembly that convenes next year, build upon and protect the high academic standards that have put our state on the path to success.”

Tennesseans for Student Success is a statewide network of parents and caregivers, teachers, community leaders, volunteers, and advocates dedicated to championing and supporting Tennessee’s students and their futures.