Rep. Justin Jones Allowed To Stay On District 52 Ballot But Will Face GOP Challenger
Image Credit: Laura Nelson for District 52 / Facebook & Rep. Justin Jones / Twitter
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
The Davidson County Election Commission voted Thursday night to dismiss a challenge brought against State Representative Justin Jones (D-Nashville-District 52), allowing him to remain on the 2024 ballot to seek reelection to his current House seat.
Jones’ Republican opponent for the District 52 seat, Laura Nelson, challenged the signatures on his petition as well as evidence that he submitted to the Commission.
Nelson said the challenge was “simply procedural,” calling into question 10 of the 25 signatures on the petition. Her initial allegations, brought in April, included a misspelled name, a street name that had been changed over the last year, and inconsistent handwriting on some of the signatures.
By last week’s vote, Nelson opted to only challenge three of the names. Tennessee Elections Coordinator Mark Goins, a former Republican state representative, specifically raised questions about one voter named “Jennifer” whose name was printed on the petition as “Jenifer.”
A signed affidavit provided by Jones from the voter did not address the misspelling. However, a member of Jones’ camp called the individual, asking her to explain. She noted that she goes by the nickname “Jen,” claiming that to be the reason for the spelling error as she quickly printed her name.
Nelson also argued that Jones did not meet the deadline for submitting his evidence to the Commission, failing to allow her campaign to have adequate time to look over it.
The Commission, however, stated that it was Nelson’s responsibility to provide evidence to support her challenge and that Jones only had to meet a later deadline for “supplementary” evidence.
The Commission ultimately voted to dismiss the challenge with a 3-1 vote, with one commissioner choosing to abstain from voting.
This is not Nelson’s first time to go up against Jones to represent District 52. She unsuccessfully challenged him in the special election held last year after Jones was expelled from his House seat.
Nelson, who currently serves as the First Vice-Chair of the Davidson County Republican Party states on her campaign website that she is a strong supporter of law enforcement and the protection of 2nd Amendment rights. She says she is 100% pro-life and desires to see improvement in healthcare rights and the foster care system. She plans to advocate for a reduction of taxes for both citizens and businesses and work towards a balanced budget.
Rules for me but not for thee. It is clear what took place here.
Looks slightly better than Rick Santorum “winning” the TNGOP primary in 2012 with zero delegates. Not one person in the entire state cared enough to get 100 signatures to be a committed delegate for Santorum. And then the TNGOP dutifully ignored the will of the voters and voted unanimously for gay-marriage Romney. I’ll have the same question about how megaphone man gets as many votes as he will when less than 25 people would sign a petition. But thanks to the TNGOP there is no recount possible for the hackable “voting machines”.
Nashville is a Democrat Craphole! Nuff said!