NASHVILLE — Tennessee Sen. Heidi Campbell has accepted seven debate invitations since the August primary election, but, so far, none of these forums have been scheduled.
Why? Her opponent in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, Andy Ogles, has not accepted a single invite.
“Voters deserve a public debate from candidates who run for Congress,” Campbell said. “Families deserve to hear why he wants to defund public schools, ban abortion nationwide and increase prescription drug costs on seniors. I guess if I had to defend his ugly record, I’d be hiding too.”
Andy Ogles’ agenda is dangerous for Tennessee families:
- Repeal the Affordable Care Act, ending health coverage and skyrocketing costs for Tennessee families and eliminating protections for patients with pre-existing conditions
- Eliminate the U.S. Dept. of Education, defunding Tennessee public schools — including resources targeted to students with disabilities and from low-income communities
- “Slash the FBI” budget to “teach them a lesson” for investigating Donald Trump
- Ban abortion nationwide without exceptions for rape and incest, which he calls a “red herring”
Andy Ogles would repeal ObamaCare, ending health coverage for millions of Americans and eliminating protections for patients with pre-existing conditions
- Andy Ogles would repeal the Affordable Care Act and its many patient protections. “As your congressman, I will fight for a full and total repeal of Obamacare… We have to get the federal government out of healthcare.” Ogles would “block grant” health programs like Medicare and Medicaid. [Tennessee Star, 28:53, 6/21/22]
- Repealing the Affordable Care Act would have devastating consequences for Tennessee families. It would: end health coverage for millions of Americans; end protections for people with pre-existing conditions, like surviving cancer; increase insurance premiums and lifetime costs; force millions of seniors to pay more for prescription drugs; and give insurance companies even more power to deny your claims, drop your coverage or reject your application altogether.
- “We’ve got to get Congress out of the healthcare industry.” [Tennessee Star, 41:20, 6/21/22]
Andy Ogles would defund Tennessee public schools
- The U.S. Department of Education provides Tennessee $1.1 billion annually for K-12 students — that’s 10% of the state’s education budget. Those allocations are targeted to students with disabilities, children for poor neighborhoods and meal programs.
- Ogles has made eliminating the department a key part of his campaign.
- Ogles: “Who gets cut first, right? If you could wave a magic wand… you get rid of the Department of Education… We gotta make massive cuts to the Department of Education.” [The Pamphleteer, 5:50, 6/14/22]
- Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education would have devastating consequences for Tennessee students and our state economy.
Andy Ogles would ‘slash the FBI’ for Trump
- Following the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, Andy Ogles blasted the federal law enforcement agency, tweeting “#FBICorruption.”
- Federal authorities warned of an increase in threats to law enforcement officials following the Mar-a-Lago search, no doubt fomented by irresponsible rhetoric against the FBI.
- Additionally, Ogles told right-wing podcaster John Fredericks that he would “slash” the FBI budget. “It’s time for this next Congress, uh, you think about the 87,000 agents added to the IRS. We’ve got to slash their budget and we have to slash the FBI and we have to teach them a lesson.” [John Fredericks Show, 1:19:30, 8/10/22]
- This isn’t Ogles’ first time shilling for Trump. In speeches, Ogles will spread Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. “They have an agenda and they do and will steal an election… Do I think it was stolen? Yes. Can I prove it? No.” [YouTube, 13:39, 5/11/21]
Andy Ogles supports a total abortion ban, dismisses survivors of rape and incest
- On his website, Ogles says, “I believe life begins at conception…I will commit to protecting the rights of the unborn from the point of conception.”
- He touts the endorsement of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, which, in June, announced its support for the “Life At Conception Act”—a personhood bill and de facto national ban on abortion. [AndyOgles.com, 4/18/22; Mooney.House.gov, 6/10/22; Time, 6/28/22]
- Ogles insulted survivors of sexual assault who often live with trauma their entire lives, when he called pregnancies that result from rape and incest a “red herring.”
- He said: “Statistically, those are not even part of the conversation. That is a red herring used by left and radicals to try and taint the conversation.”
- Tennessee data shows 401 children under the age of 14, who are not old enough to consent to sex, received an abortion in Tennessee between 2009 and 2019. [Tennessean, 8/21/22]
