I understand why everyone wants to move to East Tennessee.

We're blessed with beautiful mountains, culture, and community, and for a long time we were an affordable place to work, live, and raise a family. I also understand why many East Tennesseans don’t want more people to move here. I may have a PhD in Civil Engineering, but you don’t need a doctoral degree to see that our infrastructure has not kept up with our community’s growth – and that is making everyone’s lives harder. 

According to Tennessee's own infrastructure inventory, the counties that make up our district face nearly $7 billion in infrastructure needs over the next five years. But statewide, two-thirds of identified needs don’t have an identified funding source. Traffic is worse than ever. Our housing shortage is driving up costs and pushing families out of their hometown. 

Our roads and bridges need more than $3 billion in investments. Our schools need more than $300 million in renovations and new construction, not to mention reliable internet access. Our water and wastewater systems need around $450 million in repairs and upgrades. In some of our rural communities, some East Tennesseans still don’t have clean drinking water in their homes. 

We send federal tax dollars to Washington. We deserve a Representative who will fight to bring those dollars home and invest in our region. 

What I’ll work for in Congress to give East Tennesseans the quality of life they deserve: 

• Fund our most critical road and bridge projects by using my engineering background and committee work to direct federal dollars towards critical road and bridge repairs

• Push for federal incentives that reduce red tape in existing urban and suburban areas so that the market can respond to our housing shortage before more families are priced out while protecting our rural areas and farmland 

• Expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to increase the number of affordable units built in existing communities while adding criteria to prevent overdeveloping the farmland and green spaces that make East Tennessee worth living in 

• Fight for clean water funding for the upgrades our counties need, so no East Tennessean has to wonder whether the water coming out of their tap is safe

• Close the broadband gap in rural communities by advocating for full implementation of BEAD program funding and pushing for accountability so that federal broadband dollars actually reach the rural corners of our district that are still waiting for reliable internet access

• Invest in vocational and trades education by working to secure federal career and technical education (CTE) funding for programs that will train the construction and energy workforce our region needs to build its own future

• Advocate for federal transit grants to add bus routes and advance regional rail projects that connect workers to jobs without adding to our traffic crisis

• Support legislation that directs clean energy tax credits, grants, and manufacturing incentives to East Tennessee to bring clean energy investment and jobs to our region while building on our region's existing strengths in energy production

• Push for federal education infrastructure dollars to address the $330 million backlog in school renovations and new construction projects across our district, and make sure every classroom has the technology students need to compete