Nashville, TENN – This week Tom Steyer, the California Billionaire who recently announced he was running for President, kicked-off his campaign in various states around the country. On Tuesday, Nov 26 Tennesseans for Tom hosted his first Tennessee campaign event in East Nashville at Beyond the Edge.
Approximately 60 people were on hand to celebrate the announcement of community organizer and strategist Tequila Johnson as the campaign’s Tennessee State Director. “I am extremely excited about being a part of Tennesseans for Tom,” said Johnson. “To have a candidate like Tom that has always been a champion for the issues that we as Tennesseans care about, come to Tennessee and work with someone like me that is throughly invested in the state, means a lot.”
Johnson’s work has focused on creating equality and increasing civic engagement among voters of color in Tennessee. She is the co-founder and vice president of The Equity Alliance, a Tennessee-based nonprofit that equips black and brown citizens with tools and strategies to strengthen their communities and make government work better.
She has been featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post, and on CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets around the country.
Attendees of the event were able to ask questions and learn more about the Steyer campaign. While a latecomer into the Democratic Primary election season, Steyer is already polling at 5% against his opponents according to a recent Quinnipiac poll. His signature issues included term limits in Congress, decriminalizing illegal border crossings expanding the Supreme Court, breaking the influence of corporations and addressing climate change.
Tennessee, which has a remained a Republican strong hold for many years, has largely been ignored by the majority of Democratic candidates. Steyer follows Elizabeth Warren as the second Democrat to begin staffing in Tennessee. “The great thing about Tom is he is not afraid to invest in places that others may shy away from, and Tennessee is one of those places,” explained Johnson.
