5 Reasons to Vote Keeda Haynes for Congress
Why the public defender and carceral state survivor is the right person at the right time
Keeda Haynes is running in the Democratic primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional district. Haynes is running against a 30-year incumbent, Jim Cooper, who has not faced a primary challenge in 10 years. There are many compelling reasons to vote for Keeda Haynes. In my opinion, as a Nashville-native, and policy researcher, these are the 5 most important.
1. Haynes has Experienced the Failed Criminal Justice System First-Hand
Congress needs the expertise of doctors, educators, and farmers for a certain time and place. At this moment, we need someone who has experienced the failures of the criminal justice system and worked to overcome them. We need Keeda Haynes.
Haynes spent 4 years in federal prison for a crime she did not commit. As a student at Tennessee State, Haynes accepted a package for her then-boyfriend, not knowing it contained marijuana. Haynes’ case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, where she was partially acquitted. Still, due to mandatory minimum sentencing, she had to remain in prison.
After her release, Haynes graduated from law school and became a public defender, the same job of former mayor Karl Dean. Her experience as a public defender, coupled with her personal experience, make her uniquely qualified to sit in a congress representing 25% of the world’s incarcerated people.
2. Haynes has Pragmatic and Focused Federal Priorities
Haynes’ priorities require federal legislation such as: ending mandatory minimum sentencing, legalizing marijuana and expunging the records of marijuana-related convictions, restoring voting rights, banning solitary confinement, and abolishing the death penalty.
Haynes’ full platform for criminal justice reform, economic justice, healthcare justice, environmental and climate justice, immigration justice, and gender justice can be found on her website.
3. Nashville has Historically-Bad Minority Representation
Why has Nashville, unlike most southern cities its size, never elected a black mayor or congressperson? This is largely due to the 1960s consolidation of the majority-black city and majority-white county. In the 2016 book, Making the Unequal Metropolis, Ansley Erickson describes the political shift that occurred between the city’s last mayor, Ben West, and Metro’s first mayor, Beverly Briley:
“Briley’s election represented another important shift away from power for many black Nashvillians. Although West had often angered black residents by failing to deliver on promises, he nonetheless considered black voters important to his governing coalition. By contrast, Briley clearly felt he could govern without the support of black voters.”
In the decades since, Nashville has elected mayors that mostly reflect this shift. Growth has been prioritized over the city’s working-class residents, especially black Nashvillians. The “It City” was built on the backs of forgotten neighborhoods. Now, our hospitable southern town is home to the zip code with the highest incarceration rate in the country.
Inequality is not accidentally, nor inevitable. Keeda Haynes is the change we need and will be a great representative of Nashville.
4. Tennessee’s Current House Delegation is 9 White Men
White men make up about one-third of Tennessee’s population, but three-thirds of its House delegation. The majority of Tennesseeans are women (51.2%) and nearly 2 million Tennesseans are people of color (26.5%) (US Census). Keeda Haynes will represent the needs of these underrepresented demographic groups. Tennessee has not elected a black Congressperson since the 1990s and has never elected a black woman.
5. Tennessee Needs Visible Democratic Leadership
Tennessee Democrats have to start punching above their class. Only two Democrats represent Tennessee in Congress. We have a Republican governor and both houses of the state legislature are controlled by a Republican super-majority.
Jim Cooper (D-Nashville), along with Steve Cohen (D-Memphis), is the most visible Democrat statewide, and he’s done little to grow the party.
Keeda Haynes represents a new generation of leadership. She’s not a professional politician. She does not come from wealth. Keeda Haynes is a hard-working Middle Tennessean prepared to work tirelessly to represent those failed by the system, as she was.
You can vote for Keeda Haynes in the August 6 Democratic primary. Early voting is underway now. I have no connection to the campaign and write this to friends and family in Nashville and Tennessee’s 5th Congressional district.
