Support from NRA paves way for
Courtney Rogers' victory
Candidate travels an unlikely road
Not even four years separate Courtney Rogers, the stay-at-home mom, from Courtney Rogers, political candidate.
The path connecting the two runs through the election of a Democratic president, performances as a Revolutionary War soldier and a lecture series on the origins of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Somehow, this unlikely road has made Rogers one of the year's most-watched political newcomers.
Soft-spoken, Rogers does not come across as a right-leaning firebrand. But few other political candidates — in Tennessee or elsewhere in the nation — show so clearly how the do-it-yourself mentality of the tea party movement and an established source of money and organization can combine to topple a seemingly invulnerable incumbent.
Rogers defeated state Rep. Debra Maggart, the House Republican Caucus chairwoman, earlier this month in a race watched nationally as a test of strength for the National Rifle Association in the wake of the Aurora, Colo., theater massacre and other high-profile shootings.
As the highest-ranking statehouse Republican with a primary opponent, Maggart became the focus of an NRA campaign to punish the party for failing to advance legislation that would have expanded where Tennesseans can carry handguns. The NRA spent close to $100,000 on advertising and mailings that supported Rogers or opposed Maggart.
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Debra Maggart claims to support our gun rights publicly, but behind closed doors she cut backroom political deals to ensure vital self-defense legislation allowing hard-working Tennesseans to protect themselves was never allowed debate or a fair up or down vote on the House floor.
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The passage of this self-defense legislation would have upset many members of the business community, including FedEx, Volkswagen, Bridgestone, because it would have prohibited them from rendering their employees defenseless during their commute to and from work.
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While Rep. Maggart had a history of supporting gun rights earlier in her career, she played an instrumental role this year as Republican Caucus Chairman in killing this life-saving legislation.
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Rep. Maggart and other House leaders convinced many of their fellow Republicans to vote to send the bills to "summer study" - an underhanded way to kill bills without voting against them.
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Rep. Maggart also dismissed the concerns of more than 100,000 dues-paying NRA members who are proud to call Tennessee home, wrongly suggesting that this campaign is driven by Washington, D.C. operatives rather than by the concerns of honest Tennesseans who want to be able to protect themselves.
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While Rep. Maggart might only be concerned with campaign contributions and political maneuvering, we remain concerned with policy and protecting our citizens. The people of Tennessee deserve better and this is why we are working to educate them with this campaign.
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