Gloria Johnson is a state senator in Tennessee. She was one of the three who were reprimanded by the Republican legislature for their efforts to force the issue of gun control. The other two—both Black—were expelled. Their districts immediately re-elected them.
Gloria was a special-education teacher before she entered the Legislature.
She is now running against Senator Marsha Blackburn, one of the worst MAGA lapdogs.
I am sending money to Gloria.
In her latest note, Gloria explains why she got an abortion years ago. It saved her life, Today she would have to leave the state. Or die.
She wrote:
Folks, as a young woman, I had an abortion.
It’s not a secret. It’s not shameful. And I share it because I want the millions of other women who’ve made the decision to seek abortion care to know that they’re not alone.
When I was 21, I found out I was pregnant. I was married and wanted to start a family, but a devastating medical diagnosis changed all my plans.
My doctors told me I had an aortic aneurysm at risk of rupture. To treat it, I first needed to have an abortion. That abortion saved my life.
My right to make the decision that was best for me, my health, and my future was protected by Roe v. Wade. Women in Tennessee and other GOP-controlled states are now denied any choice in their reproductive futures. It’s abhorrent.
Let me be clear, the right to make our own reproductive health care decisions is fundamental. Women cannot be equal if we don’t have control over our own bodies.
When I get to Washington, I won’t hesitate to use every power available to demand a restoration of our reproductive freedoms at the federal level. We have to secure our rights and prevent radicals like Marsha Blackburn from enacting a national ban.

It doesn’t matter why any woman has an abortion. Those who have one to save their lives aren’t any more virtuous than those who have one simply because they don’t want/can’t afford another child. It’s her body. Women are not baby machines.
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The tragedy of Gloria Johnson is that the Maga Tennesseans are going to kill her politically in this state. She is running 16 points behind in the polls, a lead that shows no signs of narrowing.
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I truly don’t understand the appeal of MAGAin Tennessee or anywhere else. Are folks prepared to abandon Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, NATO, Ukraine?
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MAGAts are breathtakingly ignorant of what’s going on. They have no actual notion what they are supporting. It’s really shocking. Just check out the interviews at Trump rallies. Forty percent of the country is made up of people who are fiercely clueless, which would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.
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their news sources only talk about how corrupt the democrats are. I listened to a Christian broadcasting network today. The basic newscast was quoting various republicans talking about how corrupt democrats were for wanting to ditch the Mayorkis impeachment.
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In TN fundamentalist Christianity, fear of outsiders, culture wars & a post Civil war hatred of the federal govt dominate the political & historical landscape. These dispositions are deeply embedded in rural counties & in pockets of blue cities.
Preachers tell their church members that voting for a Democrat is sin; the devil’s doing. Plus, following the 2000 defeat of home boy Albert Gore to GWBush, the TN Democratic party leadership sold its soul to GOP money so these same men who screwed up Gore’s campaign could hold on to power. Well, that old guard is almost gone & there’s a newer, younger crowd in Nashville.
Gloria can’t win TN senate without Dems in rural areas coming out. But(a big BUT), she has defied expectations in the past & defeated heavily funded GOP opponents. No one out -organizes or outworks her. She has appeared in every rural county in this state. She has a large group of organizers, all ages in all areas of TN. DON’T write her off. DO donate to her campaign. She can win this.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/gj_em_bax?recurring=true&refcode=ea.36f79ecc-7fe4-ee11-aaf0-002248223794&ms=ea.36f79ecc-7fe4-ee11-aaf0-002248223794
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I believe that poll was conducted by The Beacon Center, a dark money center started to promote charter schools & vouchers sometime around 2010. I wouldn’t trust this Center to gather polling data accurately or in good faith (e.g., they conduct push polls) Unfortunately, local news has collapsed in TN & places like the Beacon Center moved in to fill the void.
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All this nonsense about abortion is “thanks” to the GOP. The party that wants to return us to 1848.
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I doubt the Republicans really want a return to 1848, the year when violent revolutions swept through Europe and Marx published The Communist Manifesto.
What they really want is a return to that sweet spot between the papal domination of the Medieval period and the rise of the nation state.
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HAAAAAA!!!!! That’s about right, Roy!!!!
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Gloria Johnson earned my respect and admiration when she stood in the well of the Tennessee House with the two Justins. That she is a former special education teacher is just the cherry on top. We need more Glorias!
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