David Kent
From Ballotpedia
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David Kent was a 2016 Democratic candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 6th Congressional District of Tennessee.[1]
Career
Kent has an associate degree in economics from Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, Tenn. He spent most of his life working in the machine tool manufacturing industry, as both a laborer and then a manager.[2]
Campaign themes
2016
Kent's campaign website highlighted the following issues:
Education
- Excerpt: "Our goal shouldn’t be being competitive; it should be being superior and dominating economic activity and world production. We should also be superior and without a doubt unmatched in military force. To obtain these levels of superiority our entire population must have access to public schools, colleges, and universities of higher education. And when I say access, I mean fully supported K-12 and tuition free colleges and universities."[3]
Infrastructure
- Excerpt: "It is my opinion that our bridges should be completely safe and capable of handling current and future traffic loads. It has been stated that we have over 55,000 bridges that need immediate or scheduled repairs or replacements. We should demand the use of only American made ores, steel, machinery and workers! It will bring new life to our mines and fire up our steel mills, foundries, and bring back American made construction and heavy equipment manufacturers. We demand action now, no more delays."[4]
Minimum wage
- Excerpt: "At the current minimum wage, I don’t feel that a person can have self-respect making $7.25 an hour, and it would be difficult to own a dependable car, pay rent, and raise a family. It’s demoralizing and it encourages people to seek alternative ways of survival. It is clearly apparent that the $7.25 minimum wage was set by corporate and company influences. Tennesseans deserve nothing less than a living wage. I encourage you to stand with me to raise the national minimum wage. I am going to stick my neck out and say that we should target $15.00 per hour."[5]
Trade
- Excerpt: "Encouraged through our current trade agreements, corporations have exported our most valuable resource, our knowledge base and 200 years of developed technologies. It is my understanding, that the export of our knowledge and technologies to adversarial and communist countries would have been preventable by law and considered treasonous."[6]
- Excerpt: "However, corporate lobbyists and CEO’s are deeply connected to politicians, resulting in the deregulation of past trade laws that would have retained our nation’s history of being a wealthy world class producer of everything. Please help me repeal trade laws and agreements that are endangering our lives, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. I am not kidding, just look at our escalating conflict with China."[6]
Elections
2016
Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Diane Black (R) defeated David Kent (D) and David Ross (independent) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Black defeated Joe Carr, Tommy Hay, and Donald Strong in the Republican primary, while Kent defeated Flo Matheson to win the Democratic nomination. The primary elections took place on August 4, 2016.[7][8][9]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Diane Black Incumbent |
71.1% | 202,234 | |
| Democratic | David Kent | 21.8% | 61,995 | |
| Independent | David Ross | 7.1% | 20,261 | |
| Total Votes | 284,490 | |||
| Source: Tennessee Secretary of State | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
David Kent |
67% | 7,551 | ||
| Flo Matheson | 33% | 3,714 | ||
| Total Votes | 11,265 | |||
| Source: Tennessee Secretary of State |
||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Diane Black Incumbent |
63.7% | 33,215 | ||
| Joe Carr | 31.9% | 16,665 | ||
| Donald Strong | 2.6% | 1,354 | ||
| Tommy Hay | 1.8% | 945 | ||
| Total Votes | 52,179 | |||
| Source: Tennessee Secretary of State |
||||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms David Kent Tennessee Congress. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- United States House of Representatives
- Tennessee's 6th Congressional District election, 2016
- Tennessee's 6th Congressional District
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "Candidate Petitions Filed as of April 7, 2016 Noon Qualifying Deadline," accessed April 8, 2016
- ↑ David Kent for Congress, "About," accessed July 21, 2016
- ↑ David Kent for Congress, "Policy 3 of 6: Public College and Universities Tuition Free," July 7, 2016
- ↑ David Kent for Congress, "Policy 4 of 6: Repair America’s Bridges to Make them Safer," July 7, 2016
- ↑ David Kent for Congress, "Policy 2 of 6: Raise Minimum Wage," July 7, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 David Kent for Congress, "Policy 5 of 6: Repeal Dangerous Trade Agreements," July 8, 2016
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "Candidate Petitions Filed as of April 7, 2016 Noon Qualifying Deadline," accessed April 8, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Tennessee House Primaries Results," August 4, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Election Results," accessed November 8, 2016
Senators
Marsha Blackburn (R)
Bill Hagerty (R)
Representatives
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District 2
Tim Burchett (R)
District 3
District 4
Scott DesJarlais (R)
District 5
Andy Ogles (R)
District 6
John Rose (R)
District 7
Matt Van Epps (R)
District 8
David Kustoff (R)
District 9
Steve Cohen (D)
Republican Party (10)
Democratic Party (1)
