Author

Amanda Haggard

Amanda Haggard

Amanda Haggard is a freelance writer, editor and journalist living in Nashville. For the past decade, she’s written about homelessness, books, music, politics, food and everything in between. She is the co-editor of Nashville’s street newspaper The Contributor.

State Senate District 3 Democratic nominee Kate Craig and Republican Sen. Rusty Crowe. (Craig photo, submitted; Crowe photo, Tennessee General Assembly)

An East Tennessee Democrat refuses to let a longtime senate Republican go unchallenged 
By: - October 26, 2022

On April 8, 2022, Kate Craig from Johnson City was getting engaged. The day before that was the deadline to file paperwork to run against District 3 Sen. Rusty Crowe. Up until April 7, Craig had been working hard, with little success, to recruit a Democrat to run against the longtime incumbent. “At that point, […]

Anything can happen in the newly formed District 90
By: - October 21, 2022

“In East Tennessee, anything can happen,” said Gloria Johnson, an incumbent Democrat running in the brand-new Tennessee House of Representatives District 90 in Knox County. Johnson, a retired Knox County teacher, had been serving in District 13, but the Republicans’ recent redistricting plan cut her home out of the district. So she moved.  Anything can […]

Republican nominee for House District 53 Dia Hart (Photo: LInkedIn) and Democratic Rep. Jason Powell (Photo: Tennessee General Assembly)

Something old and something new in District 53
By: - October 19, 2022

Though Tennessee House District 53 was freshly recarved in Tennessee’s most recent controversial redistricting plan, incumbent Democratic Rep. Jason Powell’s representation in the area is nothing new.  With a slightly new geographic area, he stands in contrast to his challenger Dia Hart, a Black conservative who has spent considerably less time as a politician. This […]

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