Williamson County Hosts Candidate Forum For District 65 Republican Primary Candidates
Image Credit: Williamson County Television
The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –
Last Week, Williamson County GOP hosted a candidate forum for the Tennessee House of Representatives seat in district 65, which is being vacated by a retiring Sam Whitson.
The event kicked off with an opening statement, each candidate giving their introduction summary which included who they are, where they come from and why they are running.
Williamson County Commissioner Brian Beathard characterized himself as a “conservative republican with a proven track record of results” and has lived in Williamson County for 20 years with his family and is a business owner. Beathard is also a 14 -year member of the Williamson County Commission, and currently serves as its chair.
In his introductory statement, Beathard made an effort to emphasize his deep roots in the community which he feels is demonstrated by his tenure not only as a resident in Williamson County but also by the amount of years serving on the County Commission.
Beathard concluded his statement by addressing what he called rumors, that he is a democrat or a RINO, that he is a solid conservative, and his voting record reflects just that. Beathard also conveyed that he is endorsed by the current representative in the seat, Sam Whitson.
Michelle Foreman began her introductory statement by thanking the Williamson County GOP for hosting the forum and appreciated the hard work that the committee put into hosting the event.
Foreman said that she’s running “to be a voice and represent her community’s values”, she added that she thought about running for the seat, and conveyed that “many from the grassroots said hey, you know what, we really want to be represented, will you run”.
Foreman is a native Tennessean, whose family roots in the state go back to 1830, Foreman grew up in Williamson County and received her early education from private schools, graduating from Brentwood Academy, and then moving onto Lipscomb University. Foreman is also a registered nurse and graduate of Nashville School of Law. She has served a 4 -year term on the Republican State Executive Committee, and indicated that while Tennessee has done some good work with their voter integrity laws there is still work to do.
In closing Foreman shared that she was voted for a second time as a Trump delegate to the National Republican Convention. Foreman won that role in the 2024 primary with 3,095 votes, the highest vote total of 14 candidates in the 7th Congressional District.
Lee Reeves, the third and final candidate in the race, is an attorney who moved to Tennessee in 2019, and shared that he is a native to Kentucky. Reeves received his undergraduate degree from Emory University, then went on to Georgetown law school where he met his wife, Claire who is also running for an elected seat, as a D9 Williamson County School board representative. Reeves stated that he was a real estate attorney for 10 years in New York.
Reeves expressed an opinion that government should remain limited, and indicated that it is key to ensuring Tennessee remain the great state that it is.
Reeves also shared that he is the current president of the local Lions club, and sits on the board of zoning appeals for the city of Franklin.
The candidates were asked 17 long form questions which they were all given 1 minute to respond to.
The questions were formed by a committee within the WCRP, and did an objectively good job at covering the topics that seem to resonate most with conservatives in Williamson county.
The following topics covered were: covid and the government shutdowns that ensued via executive order, open primaries and whether the candidates would support closing them due to crossover voting, infrastructure investments in lieu of providing huge tax incentives to large corporations to promote growth, failing public schools, funding ratios that seem to burden Williamson county residents and taxpayers more than most other counties, DEI in education, the weaponization of the Biden DOJ and how to protect Tennesseans, teachers carrying concealed in schools, illegal aliens voting in the state of Tennessee, elected vs appointed election officials in every county in order to keep them accountable to citizens, securing the vote through paper ballots, recording all votes that take place in the state house as they do in the state senate, and finally the candidates were asked to explain what signature piece of legislation would they propose that they would want to be known for.
What followed was a lightning round, requiring only a one-word answer to the following questions:
1. Would you vote for any legislation that supports closed primaries?
2. Can a man become a woman and vice versa?
3. Would you support legislation even if it might bring a federal lawsuit?
4. Would you support allowing counties to place property tax increases on a referendum for voters?
5. Will you accept or have you accepted campaign contributions from builders, developers, or any other group that stands to make financial gains?
6. Do you support the motto of the USA — E Pluribus Unum?
7. Is there any place for political, ideological or religious flags in the classroom?
Because the governor’s education scholarships were such a hotly debated issue this past session, it is worth noting that despite Beathard and Foreman’s demonstrable amount of experience in Tennessee government and politics, the Governor has given his endorsement to Reeves, because they share a stance of support for those scholarships, or vouchers as they became commonly known.
It has been made known through recent reports, that Lee is joining the trend of Governor candidate vetting, and will endorse not those with the most applicable experience, but rather those who agree with his policy positions, regardless of what constituents might or might not want.
The event was held at the Main Complex in Franklin in the same auditorium where the county commission holds its monthly meetings. The event was very well attended, as many residents showed up to support their chosen candidate, or to simply learn the differences in the issues between the three.
Williamson County GOP Chair, Dr Tracy Miller moderated the event, which lasted approximately an hour.
Residents of Williamson County’s 65th district are encouraged to take the opportunity to review the entire forum so they can determine which candidate most closely aligns with their values, so when early voting opens, people know who they plan to vote for.
The Tennessee Conservative will continue to provide coverage of the elections, and inform readers of any new developments.
About the Author: Kelly Jackson is an escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers, she has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member. An outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty, Kelly also has a YouTube channel @Tennessee_Truth_Teller and is planning on expanding out to other channels soon. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
When he announced his run for this office Brian Beathard proudly announced that he was endorsed by Worthless Sam Whitson (TLRC-71/F) after “having helped Sam in previous races” but during the candidate forum he took pains to blather something about that while he is endorsed by Whitson and promised to serve like Whitson that only meant in terms of honesty and integrity not ideology. RIIIIIIIGHT! So, Beathard is a “conservative” who has helped one of the most notoriously liberal Republicans in race after race over the years and now is quickly endorsed by Worthless Whitson as he retires but is not a soul brother ideologically. Of course, that’s before Beathard was the only one of the three candidates who refused to say that he will vote to close the primaries.
OBVIOUSLY, Williamson County conservatives must devote the next six weeks to BEAT BRIAN BEATHARD but unfortunately there are two fine conservative candidates opposing him. I believe conservatives should unite behind Lee Reeves because he is the most devoted to breaking the government monopoly on education through vouchers and he REALLY showed during the forum that he has no patience with Southern Democrats who pretend to be conservative Republicans. When the moderator asked Lee to stop beating up on Beathard I said to myself “that’s my guy”.
Thank you to Kelly Jackson. Another great article.