Friends, What a pleasure it was to meet with Claire Jones at her home as she gracefully multi-tasked, answering questions about her run for Williamson County House District 61 while responding to her young daughter who patiently waited for us to finish so they could spend the afternoon together.
While the Republican incumbent (more about him below) talks about family, parental rights, trans children, and micro-managing women’s wombs, Claire is living a life of caring- for her family, children, patients, and community while advocating for the rights and freedoms of everyone.
Below, Claire offers her thoughts on the following QUESTIONS: 1- Personal Background 2- Nursing Career 3- Position on Guns 4- Education Vouchers 5- Reproductive Freedom 6- Abortion Care 7-The Economy 8- Differences from Opponent 9- Project 2025 10- TN Budget as a Moral Document
And responded to the following QUOTES: 1- “How can millions of voters beat billions of dollars” and
2- “The Co-Governance Model is how we win in the New Southern Strategy”
Claire’s ENDORSEMENTS include:
• Change TN • TN Families for Vaccine •Planned Parenthood • Her Bold Move • Vote Mama • Democrats Serve • 3.14 Action • Williamson County Young Democrats
Claire has also received the Moms Demand Action Recognition.
To find out more about Claire go to her website at Clairejones4tn.com. You can sign up to volunteer to canvas door-to-door and phone bank, get a yard sign, and make a DONATION.
Claire is someone to honor, hold on to, and lift up so she can take her caring, dedication, and commitment into the halls and onto the floor of the Tennessee House to represent HD 61.
PLEASE tell everyone you know who might know someone living in Williamson County to VOTE FOR CLAIRE!! and encourage others to do the same. Thank you!!!
Watching love transform hate, Michele
QUESTIONS
Question 1: Asked what she wants people to know about her, Claire immediately said she is a Nurse and Mom. Claire is running for HD 61 because it has gotten harder to care for her children and patients given the current political climate and the laws being passed in Tennessee.
Originally from Lexington, Kentucky, Claire moved to Williamson County in 2004 to attend Belmont University. Her husband has lived in the Leipers Fork area since the 1990’s and she found settling in Williamson County easy because it reminded her of Kentucky.
Claire majored in Business Administration and focused on the Music Industry while at Belmont where she met her songwriter husband. They brought 3 children into their lives with the help of a nurse midwife. Claire was a stay-at-home Mom until she returned to school to seek a nursing degree with a plan to become a midwife and bring new beings into this world. Ironically, she now works in a hospice program, helping people transition through the other end of the life cycle.
Question 2: Regarding her nursing career, immediately following nursing school Claire secured employment in the Critical Care unit at St. Thomas Hospital. Even though their Residency Program had prepared her to manage the mental stress and community care aspects of the work, “You don’t really realize it until you see it.” Claire experienced burnout after 5 years, the average span of “bedside nursing.”
The staff coined the term “frequent flyers” for patients whose disease process was compounded by other issues such as drug addiction or detoxing from alcohol. “You see people leaving the hospital and there’s no plan for them after they leave” so they are returning “to the same system that put them in the hospital in the first place.”
While in Critical Care, Claire realized that "policy was driving patient outcomes” even more than her work as a nurse. She found this “frustrating and sad” and felt like she wasn’t doing anything, even after coming home exhausted following a 14-hour night shift. Claire decided to shift to hospice care so she could still be at the patient's bedside but not have to address the myriad of other factors affecting a person’s health.
The trauma experienced by healthcare workers affects their entire lives. While Claire became a nurse to help people, she began to feel that she could be of more help away from the bedside, and although “we are in a nursing shortage right now,” she decided to run for office.
While in the Critical Care Unit, Claire’s patients and their families worried about the cost of their hospital stay while the nurses and doctors treating them wanted to provide the best care possible, regardless of the cost. Claire offered the example of a young patient who ended up in a diabetic coma because they rationed their insulin over many months due to concerns about cost.
Claire shared that the people who first discovered insulin did not patent it “because they knew it was a life-saving medication… Now to see it be abused and exploited is really sad.”
Question 3: Asked about her position on guns, Claire said she is a gun owner but also being a mother and nurse she understands “gun violence is a public health crisis.” She said there is a high economic cost to Tennesseans because gun violence is almost a billion dollars, 4 million of which is paid by taxpayers. “This has an economic as well as humanitarian cost in pain and suffering.”
Claire and her husband created a plan for how and where to store their guns and talked to their 14-year-old about when and where he could use their pellet gun. “A lot of responsibility comes with gun ownership.”
Claire continued, “There is a lot that we can do that is common sense gun legislation.” When she knocks on doors and explains what safe storage looks like, people understand it doesn’t mean putting your gun in a lock-safe but instead is as simple and inexpensive as putting a little plastic lock on the chamber when the gun is not in use.
Claire explained the importance of ERPO legislation (Extreme Risk Prevention Order), which removes guns from someone who is suicidal or homicidal or otherwise is in a mental health crisis.
Claire also advocates for background checks and 24-hour waiting periods. “…56% of Tennessee gun-related deaths are suicides, so if we have a 24-hour waiting period… who needs a gun in 24 hours? Not someone I want having a gun.”
Claire has determined, “What is stopping common sense gun legislation is political rhetoric… We are living in a dystopian nightmare, where guns are the leading cause of death for children.” Claire commented that dozens of states have these laws and they’ve not been challenged in the Supreme Court, “so they’re constitutional."
Claire shared, “The highest rate (of suicides) is in males 13-19 and also men over the age of 65.” Yet there is “only a 4% chance that the person will be successful using medication suicide whereas with a firearm there’s a 99% chance you will be successful.” She remarked that patients on suicide watch are happy to be alive, once they are out of crisis. “That’s the biggest thing.”
Claire concluded, “These are fleeting moments for some people. We all have had breakdowns where we’ve felt overwhelmed by life and depending on where you are in your life cycle you might choose something that is not really where you want to be. And if you have access to a gun, you’re gonna accomplish it, whether that really is your goal or not. That’s what I find very frustrating, that guns are so accessible that if somebody has this temporary crisis they’re gonna do something permanent.”
Question 4: Responding to a question about her thoughts on vouchers, Claire began by saying, “Governor Lee said that vouchers are the civil rights issue of our time.” This statement particularly frustrated her after learning that vouchers originated in Texas in response to desegregation. “I don’t know that that was the best analogy for Governor Lee to make.”
A public school Mom, Claire noted that a study documented pilot voucher programs did not improve student outcomes and the voucher bill that failed during the last session didn’t include any accountability measures for the spending of taxpayer money.
Claire also pointed out that Tennessee is “44th or 45th in per-student funding in the nation” so Governor Lee’s claim that our public schools are failing is, “because you’re not funding them.” Claire noted that two-thirds of Williamson County taxes go directly to public schools, some of the best in Tennessee and the Southeast. “They are a testament that if you fund your schools you see success… If you invest in your schools your community grows.”
Claire continued, ‘Investing in schools is so important because 90% of Tennessee students graduate from a public school” however statewide, “our illiteracy rates are higher than we want to admit… You have to have an educated public in order to have a flourishing community.”
“Public monies should stay in public schools. That’s what it’s there for” stated Claire. While “we have a surplus (in the state budget) it’s not a revenue surplus… they are cutting other programs and then stockpiling that money for things they want to do. So we can’t afford the voucher program.”
At $7,000 per student, the proposed voucher would “only cover about half the cost” of the median private school tuition ($15,000) so “you would have to be a person of some means” to take advantage of a voucher. And while she has no problem with anyone sending their child to a private school- “This is school choice!”- over 50% of the kids who were benefitting from the voucher pilot program had never been in a public school before.”
Question 5: Regarding reproductive freedom, while holding her youngest daughter beside her, Claire noted that she does not believe “the government belongs in our doctor’s office." Physicians testified and lobbied legislators to help them understand the impact of potential legislation on their practice and their patients but Legislators ignored these experts in this field, making her feel “as though I was not living in a democracy” or reality.
Claire pointed out there are a lot of reproductive freedoms under attack, including IVF and contraceptive care.
“Even right now, when people are making comments about ‘Tampon Tim…’ somebody wanting women to have access to a necessity and we’re making fun of it???”
Claire then began to address other attacks on our freedoms, including the “freedom of learning” exemplified by book bans. Wilson County libraries were shut down so they could figure out whether librarians would be charged as felons if certain books were displayed. Gino Bulso, Republican Incumbent being challenged by Claire is suing the Williamson County School Board over banned books. “They’re coming in and telling educators, ‘We know better than you.’ And they don’t.”
Claire went on to talk about anti-trans legislation, which is targeting children at a time when “suicides are higher among younger people and they’re in a vulnerable situation as it is. What is even more frustrating than that… it doesn’t have to be an issue.” Claire suggested that this is part of a culture war attack, saying, “It’s a salacious, grabbing attention effort… I don’t even know how many of these Legislators really care whether there is a pride flag in the classroom or not.”
“Our schools don’t need someone to attack teachers and educators and ban books. Our schools need funding. Our teachers need more funding. They need support. They need to be paid appropriately. So many bigger issues… Only harm is coming out of this legislation. I don’t know if that’s their goal or intention but that’s what’s happening.”
Question 6: Noticing that Claire has no problem being a Mom and an abortion protector, Claire suggested there is a misconception about what abortion care is.
“When you tell people that abortion is health care, and you explain that the actual term abortion is a medical term… they do understand... If a woman’s life is at risk we need to consider that. At the end of the day, bodily autonomy is one of the most important things we have.”
There are so many ways for a woman to be violated according to Claire. “Women’s bodies are open season for comments and control and it’s usually coming from men…
She continued, Regardless of where you stand on the issue of abortion, don’t you think women should be in those roles making those decisions? Only 14% of our legislators are female… More women need to be holding office if you’re gonna be legislating our bodies…”
“The biggest thing is the government has no right to come between a woman and her health care. I think we all agree on that.”
Question 7: Regarding her potential constituents, Claire said they have voiced concerns about the economy. “There is rhetoric that we’re in a bad economy, which is not true. Not even close to true.”
According to Claire, Governor Lee’s take on “Trickle-down economics,” was exemplified by the 100+ companies benefitting from the franchise tax rebate voted on by the Super-Majority with no disclosure as to their names. “Self-enrichment is not a new thing.”
Claire contrasted this move with the many federal stimulus packages directed at working families during COVID, particularly those with children, and said, “The US recovered better than any other developed nation, literally.”
Concerns about the economy tie into everything she is running on, according to Claire: education by fighting against vouchers; protecting the purchasing power of Tennesseans; expanding health care coverage; and preventing rural hospital closings. “Most people would agree, we want our taxes going to help people in Tennessee. When people in Tennessee are thriving businesses are going to thrive.”
Claire said Tennessee has some of the highest medical debt in collection and one of the highest bankruptcy rates in the country so “there’s a negative cost on Tennesseans when we’re not investing in them.”
Pointing to the fact that “only 12 other states have a grocery tax” Claire said, “We get caught in this rhetoric that tax cuts are bad… It’s not that. It just needs to be balanced. Are we helping everyone? Cause if we’re asking regular people to carry the tax burden it’s not sustainable.”
Question 8: Gino Bulso, the Republican incumbent Claire is running against for the HD 61 seat, lost his first bid in 2018 for a seat in the Tennessee Legislature. He won on his second attempt in 2022, and in less than 2 years has sponsored some of the most conservative and hurtful bills introduced during the last session.
When asked to differentiate herself from Bolso, Claire said “I think I am the antithesis of all of his legislation.” After the Covenant shooting, Claire charged that Bulso “was not listening to his constituents and was not respecting their concerns.”
School board members expressed to Claire that a lot of his legislation was unnecessary, particularly the Pride flag ban, because “there had not been complaints or concerns about indoctrination so this was ‘out of left field.’” Bulso is also suing the Board over banned books, but Claire pointed out “If a parent doesn’t want a child to check out a certain book, done. The schools are honoring that and the school board has a process. So a lot of what he’s doing is not an issue.”
The only person named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit did not have children in the district. “Gino knew, as an attorney, that maybe… he doesn’t have standing. So what did he try to do? He tried to pass a bill during the last session that would allow you to sue an LEA even if you don’t have kids in the school because you might potentially have children in the school. It didn’t pass but that’s what Gina did.”
In contrast, Claire said “I am actually running to listen to people. There’s going to be a lot of people who disagree with me on a lot of hot-button issues, whether it’s guns or abortion care or even education… But when I knock on doors with people who question the gun legislation, when you talk to them you actually find there’s this common ground we all kind of exist in.”
Citing Bulso’s extremism, Claire said, “I think that’s a big difference between me and Gino…. I have children that guns are the leading cause of death for. I have children that are in public schools and he is a proponent of vouchers… I’ve got a lot of skin in the game and so do a lot of families in Williamson County.”
Question 9: When asked how Project 2025 will impact families in Tennessee, Claire said her biggest concern is '“that a group as big as the Heritage Foundation is pushing this…They are movers and shakers in politics… particularly when the Republican candidate is such a loose cannon… It would be very easy for this to become a reality.”
News outlets recently explored how close Tennessee legislators have been to Project 2025, “including the people who wrote it and the Heritage Foundation itself.”
When Harold Love tried to pass a bill to codify access to IVF and contraception care, Claire offered, “When it was voted down I met with some legislators and they were like, ‘This doesn’t do anything…There’s no need for this bill.’” But having talked to Legislators who think IUD’s are a form of abortion Claire said to them, “I don’t know how far back in medical school a doctor would have to go to explain to you that’s not reality. An abortion is ending a pregnancy and an IUD doesn’t end a pregnancy, it prevents a pregnancy.’
Question 10: When asked to reflect on the state budget being a moral document, Claire responded, “As a healthcare worker, not expanding Medicaid is baffling to me, even from a fiscal standpoint, since we’re leaving money on the table…You’re paying taxes to the Federal Government and they’re trying to send them back to the state to help the people in our state.”
Claire pointed to the fact that “Over 150,000 people lost TNCARE just last year. Those are people who don’t have health insurance… You won’t expand Medicaid even though infant and maternal mortality rates are some of the highest in the nation. We have some of the highest rates of uninsured. We have the highest rates of rural hospital closures. We have some of the highest rates of medical debt and collections. These are real people and they will die because we are not investing in them… with rural hospitals closing and an extreme abortion ban what do you think is going to happen to maternal mortality rates? OBGYN’s are leaving the state because they can’t work here.
Claire also linked budget decisions to private prisons. “What kind of a world do we live in when you have lobbyists and companies that are benefitting off of people being incarcerated? Tennessee loves to throw out felonies… Why are we stacking our prisons with human beings? …A few months ago I saw that if we were a county we’d be 9th for the highest number of people incarcerated.”
Claire concluded, “Two years ago… 50% of the state’s children were covered under TNCARE- we’re talking about children- and you can’t expand that program? Guns are the leading cost of childhood deaths but we can’t do anything about it? That is not ethical. We do not have leaders with high ethical standards.”
QUOTES
(NOTE: The following quotes are from Southern Cultures-Center for the Study of the American South: The Rhetoric and the Reality of the New Southern Strategy. This was a conversation between Courtland Cox (1960s SNCC leader), Nsé Ufot (New Georgia Project), and Charles V. Taylor (NAACP-Mississippi leader), then edited by Emilye Crosby (SNCC Legacy Project).)
Quote 1: “How can millions of voters beat billions of dollars?”
Claire quickly responded, “I think it’s really easy. If more people vote for good candidates who actually care about our communities and have integrity and high ethical standards then that one individual… they’re not susceptible and impressionable by that money. But if you don’t vote and five crooked politicians get into office, they can do a lot of damage.”
She added, “Extremism is what is driving our politics in Tennessee but the people living here are not extreme… The Governor’s own polling showed that 80% of Tennesseans want to see common sense gun legislation.”
For instance, “Abortion care continues to poll favorably- over 60%… Their leadership should be reflecting their values and that’s not what’s happening…”
Claire ended with, “Money has more control if you don’t vote. But if you vote they don’t have that control anymore.”
Quote 2: “The Co-Governance Model is how we win in the New Southern Strategy”
Claire began by responding, “Because of the Supermajority in Tennessee, we’re seeing individual legislators voting party line not for their constituency.”
Many school boards in Tennessee issued resolutions against vouchers, including the two that cover Williamson County. “But what did our Senator Jackson and Representative Gino Bulso and Jack McCallum do? They all got right on board with vouchers even though their districts were saying ‘No.’”
So, Legislators think they“…can reject their local community and do the will of the Governor who, by the way, is from Williamson County. We just saw almost one million was spent on pushing candidates who were pro-vouchers. It seems pretty obvious that the communities are not with their legislators.”
The antidote, according to Claire? “Interestingly enough, what Gino Bulso said in a podcast to Meribah Knight, ‘If my district doesn’t agree with me, then they’ll vote me out.’ Okay, let’s see what happens.”
When asked if she would be able to make a big change if elected, given the Supermajority, Claire said almost all the candidates in Middle Tennessee are running on similar platforms. “They are running in response to the Super Majority in Tennessee.”
“Will me, as one person, be able to change Tennessee? No. But if you flip a red seat in a conservative state it sends a message. That’s what I’m trying to do.” Claire continued, “I can’t do it alone and I don’t think any politician should have an ego that makes them think they can do anything alone. You are doing the will of the people.”
Claire observed, “The Supermajority is dangerous. We have to flip more seats in order for there t be a balance. Purple is a beautiful color. I think Democracy thrives in purple.”
And regarding more conservative voters, Claire reflected, “…there’s a big debate over a podcast… saying people should stop being Republican. That’s not the issue… Having conservative values is fine. Reaching across the aisle is wonderful. But you can’t do that with extremists so we need to vote those extremists out.”
In Williamson County, Claire noted that only about 19% of the electorate voted in the Primaries, which included the final election for school board members… one of whom “I would consider more extreme.” Claire anticipates a reaction to that outcome in November.
I offered back to Claire a quote from her Balletopia post: “What we need are people over party and to make sure that Tennessee reflects the will of the people in the state.”
Claire said, “You are there to represent your constituency. Putting people over party means expanding Medicaid. Putting people over party means common sense gun legislation. Literally, things that are life or death. That’s where we are.”
Endorsements
• Change TN • TN Families for Vaccine •Planned Parenthood • Her Bold Move • Vote Mama • Democrats Serve • 3.14 Action • Williamson County Young Democrats
Claire has also received the Moms Demand Action Recognition.
Contact
Claire’s website is: Clairejones4tn.com
There you can find: • More information about Claire • Make a donation •Volunteer to canvass and/or phone bank • Get a yard sign
Claire gave a shout-out to the candidates whose districts overlap hers and encouraged people to vote up and down the ballot for:
• Maryam Albolfazli, 5th US Congressional District
• Megan Barry, 7th US Congressional District
• Gloria Johnson, US Senate
• Kamala Harris, US President
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