A statement from the candidate · Filed May 15, 2026
I'm running for Tennessee's 5th District because the people in charge have lost their damn minds. The government no longer works for the citizens, but we still pay all the bills. None of this is by accident. The shift to rule by the billionaire class has been a decades-long, carefully orchestrated manipulation - like a slow-moving car wreck that everyone can see coming. Now's the time to get out of the way, because we are all about to get run over.
Politicians have been running on the same campaign promises for decades. It's time to stop pretending they can deliver without first fixing the underlying issues. The bones of this government are sound. The rot is what has to go.
The district
They redrew District 5 in three days - 17 counties, from downtown Memphis to the edge of Middle Tennessee. The lines moved. A lot of people don't know which district they're in anymore.
On the record
Not slogans. Specific ideas I'm floating for what I'd actually do in Congress, each one written out in full. Read them, push back on them, hold me to them.
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Pillar One · The disruption fights
These are the structural problems that allow money to shape our elections and politicians to never leave office. We have to solve these first if we want things to actually change.
Incumbents win reelection at very high rates - Ballotpedia found 95% of the incumbents it covered won in 2024. Term limits would have to be voted on by the very people they would remove.
The way around it: a public 12-year pledge for every Tennessee federal candidate, county-level advisory referenda, and party endorsement rules.
Here's what I'd doLarge bipartisan majorities of Americans want this banned. The bills exist. Leadership in both chambers keeps them off the floor.
The way around it: a personal no-trade pledge, a one-by-one push to get every member of Congress on the record, and a public trade tracker on this site.
Here's what I'd doLobbyists hand members ready-to-introduce bill text. The public never finds out who actually wrote it.
The way around it: get members of Congress on the record. Ask every one of them to sign a pledge - no lobbying jobs after they leave, weekly public meeting logs, bill-authorship disclosure - and publish who signs and who refuses.
Here's what I'd doIt now jams together the most urban area in Tennessee, a swath of rural counties, and Williamson - one of the richest counties in the state. It's impossible for anyone to represent this district fairly.
The way around it: push for an independent commission - citizens, not politicians - to draw Tennessee's maps, and back state legislators in both parties who pledge to end gerrymandering for good.
Here's what I'd doOver $4 billion in outside spending in 2024. The amendment to overturn it is not coming.
The way around it: refuse the money, run in the light, and push the state and local workarounds other places already use - democracy vouchers, small-donor matching, real-time disclosure.
Here's what I'd doDozens of races in this district go uncontested every cycle. Nobody runs at all.
The way around it: weekly office hours in every county, a free DIY politics curriculum, direct mentorship of state House and local candidates, and a hand-off when I term-limit out.
Here's what I'd doThe pledge
Six commitments, in writing. The disruption fights from above, turned into a document I’ve put my name on. This is the standard I’m holding myself to - and the standard I think every candidate for federal office should have to meet.
All six. Or none.
Pillar Two · Told honestly
I share these. I'll fight for these. I just won't lie about which ones one freshman can finish.
Earmarks for blight remediation, community centers, and youth programs in the places that need them - from South Memphis and Frayser to Lake County and the small towns of West Tennessee. Federal agency advocacy. Constituent services at a level this district has never seen.
Read moreFederal money to build housing regular working families can afford - not just the very poorest. Making Section 8 actually work. Modern manufactured and modular homes treated as the real, lower-cost housing they are. And rural transit treated like it matters.
Read moreFederal appropriations riders for rural hospital stabilization. Maternal health funding for Tennessee with accountability for outcomes by race. Push the state on Medicaid expansion using the federal seat as leverage.
Read moreMost of this district is rural, and most candidates stopped showing up in those counties a long time ago. Right-to-repair for ag equipment. Earmarks for rural broadband, water, and childcare. Trade policy that doesn't treat Tennessee farmers as collateral damage.
Read moreCounties in the Middle Tennessee stretch of the district are growing fast, and the roads, water systems, and services haven't kept up. Federal infrastructure dollars are a real lever here. This part of the district is a different fight, and it starts with a listening tour - specifics second.
Read moreWhen a school closes in Lauderdale, Obion, or Henry County, it takes the center of gravity of the whole town with it - and the state's voucher program is pulling money out of these districts as they go. Defend and expand the federal Title I dollars rural schools run on, fund stabilization through programs like REAP, and treat every school closing the same.
Read moreThe writing
My previous political essays live on my website, RachelandTheCity. Writing about this campaign - what I believe and what I plan to do - lives here on the campaign blog.
Filed under: how this works
Quarterly transparency reports. Weekly office hours. The work, in the light. Tell me how you can help, or follow the writing that brought me here.
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