God, Guns, And Guts: Washington County GOP Hosts Legislative Update

Credit for all images: Washington County Republican Party

The Tennessee Conservative [By David Seal]-

Washington County, Tennessee GOP Chair Danielle Goodrich is making good on her promise to keep the party membership informed on legislation and to hold legislators accountable for their actions. 

At the God, Guns, and Guts event in Jonesborough, legislators from across Tennessee answered tough questions and provided insight to their policy priorities for the upcoming 2026 legislative session, an event organized and executed by Chair Goodrich.

Six legislators, Senator Rusty Crowe, Senator Bobby Harshbarger, Representative Rebecca Alexander, Representative Monty Fritts, Representative Tim Hicks, and Representative Todd Warner were in attendance to address important issues and answer questions presented by the moderator Steve Reed. Representative Jody Barrett was scheduled to attend but was required to attend a meeting in his home district and was unable to attend.

Two candidates for Young Republicans Chair, Rachel Mehl and Mason Mosier, made introductions and commented on their leadership priorities.

Event Moderator Reed requested that each legislator state which successful bill they were proud of and what their priorities are for the upcoming legislative session.

Representative Warner took pride in the Illegal immigration bill and plans to bring future legislation to improve school safety.

Representative Alexander sponsored a successful bill to keep cell phones out of Tennessee classrooms and will sponsor a bill to improve the education of deaf children.

Senator Harshbarger favored the bill that requires drug analysis of mass shooters and plans to file legislation modeled from an Arkansas public act that eliminates the middleman in the pharmaceutical business.

Representative Hicks was proud of the Tennessee hurricane relief legislation, noting that the Tri-Cities area has yet to be compensated by the federal government for the flooding disaster.

Representative Fritts, well known for the Month of Prayer legislation, cited HJR 51 Prayer Resolution and HJR 98 which urges congress to better care for military service members that suffer from vaccine injuries.

Senator Crowe expressed pride in a bill that requires drug analysis of mass shooters and a bill that eliminates DEI hiring.

Activist Bernadette Pajer works tirelessly on health freedom issues and provided the following statement concerning psychotropic drug legislation.

“The new law mentioned by Senator Crowe is a step in the right direction regarding acknowledging the association between commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs and lethal behavior.  It requires obtaining the prescription psychotropic drug use by anyone who carries out a mass shooting that results in the deaths of four or more individuals. I pray no event ever triggers the use of this law. Psychotropic prescription drugs come with black-box warning labels that say they can induce homicidal and suicidal behavior and yet doctors who prescribe them are not required to report serious adverse events to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), a database that tracks safety signals and potential issues with medications. So, Senator Paul Bailey (SB 1064) and Representative Susan Lynn (HB 1160) are running a bill to make reporting mandatory for physicians who take TennCare. It’s just a caption bill right now, as we are working on the language with TennCare and the Department of Health, and we aim to pass it in 2026.” – said Bernadette Pajer, Stand for Health Freedom 

The Washington County Republican Party celebrated legislative wins on the following bills.

HB 64 / SB 472 – Segregating certain areas of education facilities by biological sex

HB 132 / SB 396 – Limits Governor’s Emergency Powers

HB 134 / SB 476 – Eliminates Red 40 from public school food programs

HB 322 / SB 392 – Creates Offence of Human Smuggling

HB 324 / SB 327 – Limits Emergency Power of the Governor (Constitutional) 

HB 377 / SB 376 – Eliminates DEI hiring in higher education

HB 444 / SB 480 – Limits eminent domain and redefines “blight”

HB 1283 / SB 1143 – Prohibits certain forms of ID for non-citizen voting

The legislators in attendance expressed their differences concerning the following bills and public policies, each explaining their votes.

• Elimination of Caucus Nominations by Party

• School Voucher Bill

• Farmland Preservation Act

• Pesticide Manufacturer Immunity Bill

• Healthcare Monopolies

• Certificate of Need Laws

• Electrical Power / Data Centers

Fritts expressed his frustration with the national debt exceeding 37 trillion dollars and the explosive growth of the Tennessee State Budget.

Closing Comments From Chair Goodrich Provided For This Article –

“God, Guns and Guts was a legislator Q and A to encourage vigorous discussion on the issues most important to Tennessee. We invited legislators not just from our area, but from across the state.

We asked Washington County Republicans to submit questions and we picked from a range of questions from second amendment to medical freedom to the Governor’s budget.

The County Executive Committee per the bylaws are supposed to promote Republican values and show the Republican stance on the issues.

Sometimes Republicans are not in agreement on what the Republican stance is. The TNGOP website under “about” lists the TRP Guiding Values. They are written in black and white and include standing for the Constitution, God-given rights, limited government and fiscal conservatism.

We wanted to encourage vigorous discussion on the issues that came up last session as well as what we are hearing will be back this session.

As a part of my campaign promises we said we would be a free and fair platform for all Republicans and will continue this style of q and a for the upcoming May and August primaries.” – said Danielle Goodrich, Chair, Washington County Republican Party

About the Author: David Seal is a retired Jefferson County educator, recognized artist, local businessman, 917 Society Volunteer, and past Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. He has also served Jefferson County as a County Commissioner and is a citizen lobbyist for the people on issues such as eminent domain, property rights, education, and broadband accessibility on the state level. David is also a 2024 winner of The Tennessee Conservative Flame Award & has received an accolade from the Institute For Justice for successfully lobbing the TN legislature to protect property rights. David can be reached at david@tennesseeconservativenews.com.