Image Credit: Chattanooga Civitan Club / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Constitutional Conservative lawmaker Monty Fritts who is running for governor wants less government at the state level and greater freedom for Tennesseans.
Last week, Fritts told the Chattanooga Civitan Club that his primary purpose in entering the gubernatorial race is liberty for the people of Tennessee.
When announcing his candidacy last month, Fritts said that he views liberty as less government and less spending along with parting ways from Nashville’s political status quo.
Fritts has served as a state representative for the 32nd District covering Roane and Loudon counties since 2023.
Recognizing the importance of handling taxpayer funds efficiently, Fritts said that government frugality is important. While acknowledging Tennessee’s past fiscal health, Fritts said the state could make improvements and wants to leave Tennesseans with more money in their pockets.
Fritts pointed to the increase in the state’s budget over the last six years, which has grown by 59 percent, saying that the state government is out of touch and needs to make changes. The Kingston lawmaker would like to see only constitutional uses earmarked in the budget.
While taking issue with the redistribution of taxpayer’s money to enrich corporations wanting to do business in Tennessee, Fritts also stated that public funds should not go to private schools but instead should only fund the public school system.
Fritts voted against Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act and said that if he were to win the governor’s race, that he would put an end to the entitlement program saying it was unconstitutional.
“I voted against what many call the freedom scholarship, that I call the voucher bills, and I intend to stop those as soon as I get into office,” said Fritts. “That’s going to make 20,000 people unhappy, I understand, but constitutionally, that second sentence in Tennessee’s constitutional Article 11, Section 12, does not permit us to do what we’re doing today.”
Fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn differs in her opinion of the program, staunchly advocating for it and promising to expand it should she win the governor’s seat.
While Fritts believes that public schools should strive for excellence, he said that the state’s K-12 schools as well as institutions of higher education are overly controlled by Nashville. Fritts also opposes standardized testing for taking up too much time and questioned the usefulness of the data that is collected.
The responsibility to limit government is ultimately on the governor of Tennessee stated Fritts who equates liberty with a smaller government.
In order to enhance liberty within the state as governor, Fritts would ensure that state commissioners, and state employees at both mid and senior levels be constitutionally literate of the state and U.S. constitutions by having them pass a knowledge test on both.
Tennessee has had only Republican governors since 2011, but if Fritts wins the governorship, he would be not only a Republican but a constitutional conservative. He believes he can win despite being the underdog in the race with less name recognition than Blackburn and far less money than another gubernatorial hopeful, U.S. Representative John Rose.
Fritts said that he was confident because of his approach which differs from the other candidates.
“I think for too long we’ve allowed politics to be about who can raise the most money – state politics, senator’s races, governor’s races – and I think it’s that way all across the country,” said Fritts. “I don’t think that’s unique to Tennessee, and I think that there’s a distaste for that, for that big government.”
Primary elections will be held next year on August 6th with the general election scheduled for November 3rd, 2026.
More Sources:
Video of Speech in post comments – https://www.facebook.com/ChattanoogaCivitanClub/posts/pfbid0uALcbtLAsqVM6VG9wwBHtfkqHS6K9Yw6buoV3mC64XjJDV2uEykg12b3beL3bHWQl
https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2025/oct/25/gubernatorial-candidate-fritts-wants-to
https://www.chattanoogan.com/2025/10/26/510458/Governor-Candidate-Fritts-Speaks-Out.aspx
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
2 Responses
The only people that like this voucher bill are those that love free handouts. Problem is that eventually those handouts come with strings and this bill is no different. Most of the kids that will benefit from this scam are kids whose parents can already afford private school but want others to pay for it. And there is no monitoring of success and the public schools will be made whole for the first year of every student that leaves the public system. So in essence you end up paying for both their public school seat and their private school seat in the first year. This double dipping will happen every year this program is active. I wonder what Governor Lee was promised for pushing this scam??? Just sayin’
There is only one question that is important to conservatives in the upcoming gubernatorial election “Will we put an end to the 16 year Haslam/Lee administration or will we split our vote between Blackburn-Rose-Fritts which will extend that administration for another 8 years?” End the centrist/tepid conservative Haslam/Lee administration! Vote Blackburn or Rose or Fritts, whoever has the best chance of winning.