Hendrell Remus is chair of the Tennessee Dems. In 2021 he became the first Black person ever to hold that position, and his passion for community, his commitment to democratic values, his tireless get-the-job-done work ethic puts him in that cohort of new democratic leaders who are remaking the way the party works on the ground and in communities across America.
I talk with a lot of party chairs. Here in the upper Midwest, we now have awesome leadership: Lavora Barnes in Michigan, Ben Wikler in Wisconsin, and Ken Martin in Minnesota have winning formulas and unleashed tremendous energies that are moving this part of the country forward. And now we have new, impressive leadership in Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and of course, in Tennessee where Democrats are rethinking how organize and to push back against the dark money assaults on our democracy.
I talked with Hendrell Remus about his journey into party politics and what organizing looks like across the state of Tennessee. I wanted to know if it is more about coalition building among existing organizations, or creating entirely new on ramps for people to get involved.
We also talked about;
The recent special elections in Tennessee where two of the so-called Tennessee Three Democrats were re-elected to their legislative seats after being thrown out by Republican leadership.
TN Senator Marcia Blackburn and she may face a challenge from Gloria Johnson, one of the TN Three.
The impact of extreme gerrymandering in that state especially with regard to
guns, abortion, civil rights, the environment & on democracy itself.
I hope you’ll give this a listen.
LISTEN: Dem party chair Hendrell Remus talks about fighting extremism in Tennessee.