Andy Spears is an experienced journalist who writes a blog called The Education Report, where he revealed that billionaire Jeff Yass is funding a pro-voucher candidate in the race to replace Governor Bill Lee.
Lee pushed hard to enact voucher legislation, and he too benefited from Jeff Yass’s giving. Tennessee public schools are suffering as a result of Republicans’ devotion to vouchers.
Spears writes:
Thanks to Bill Lee’s leadership, Tennessee has gone from 44th in the nation in school funding when he became governor in 2018 to 51st – dead last – as Lee is on his way out this year.
In addition to leading Tennessee to the bottom – $1.9 billion below Mississippi – in school funding, Lee has also led the way to a $300 million private school voucher scheme.
Lee was helped in his voucher quest by the School Freedom Fund and its top donor, New York billionaire Jeff Yass. Yass’s group spent more than $4 million to support pro-voucher GOP legislative candidates – winning key primaries and delivering the votes to get Lee’s voucher scheme across the finish line.
Now, Yass is taking sides in the race to replace Lee. Yass is the largest single contributor in the gubernatorial race, giving $1 million to a political action committee (PAC) supporting Marsha Blackburn, according to Tennessee Lookout.
Yass is known for his investment in TikTok’s parent company and for being a major financial supporter of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
He’s now the largest single contributor in Tennessee’s gubernatorial election after donating $1 million to Team Tennessee, a PAC that is backing U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s bid for the top job.
Blackburn is a vocal advocate for private school vouchers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Tennessee suffered from an immigration problem. Most of people “immigranting” from California, Colorado, and New York are conservatives who “want to keep what’s theirs.” They arrive, bitching about those dreaded liberals from which they escaped and building their own personal fortress in places where naturally conservative farmers live. The result is a nose-led population of really cordial people who will elect people like Bill Lee. Political ads demonstrate this political reality. That said, more than a third of Tennessee voters are not represented by any political process, and the unspoken democratic norm, majority rule with minority rights (thanks for the idea from John Ozalek) is a broken mess in This state. The third of the population that lacks representation suffers under the regime.
All that said, I love my state. It is, at least for now, a beautiful place to live with nice folks. We used to have the reputation of moderate politics. Estes Kefauver and Albert Gore Sr refused to sign the Southern Manifesto in 1948. We used to choose moderate republicans.
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Roy, lots of states in the west, Midwest and mid-South elected moderate Democrats. They are red now. Why?
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I believe that Republicans captured the evangelical vote with the abortion issue. Between that and subsequent appeals to fears of everything from LBGTQetc to Muslims, they have duped a solid base. Democrats, meanwhile, accepted neoliberalism and helped to create a population of people who could not live into the American dream of a roof, a family, and a retirement.
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