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Heidi Campbell
Heidi Campbell (Democratic Party) is a member of the Tennessee State Senate, representing District 20. She assumed office on November 3, 2020. Her current term ends on November 7, 2028.
Campbell (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Tennessee State Senate to represent District 20. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Campbell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Heidi Campbell was born in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] Campbell earned a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University.[2][3] Her career experience includes working as an executive in the music industry and owning a business.[1][3]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Campbell was assigned to the following committees:
- Finance, Ways, and Means Committee
- Transportation Committee
- Transportation and Safety Committee
- Fiscal Review Committee
2021-2022
Campbell was assigned to the following committees:
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Tennessee State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Tennessee State Senate District 20
Incumbent Heidi Campbell defeated Wyatt Rampy in the general election for Tennessee State Senate District 20 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Heidi Campbell (D)  | 57.4 | 63,353 |
 | Wyatt Rampy (R) | 42.6 | 46,997 | |
| Total votes: 110,350 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tennessee State Senate District 20
Incumbent Heidi Campbell advanced from the Democratic primary for Tennessee State Senate District 20 on August 1, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Heidi Campbell | 100.0 | 17,158 |
| Total votes: 17,158 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Tennessee State Senate District 20
Wyatt Rampy advanced from the Republican primary for Tennessee State Senate District 20 on August 1, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Wyatt Rampy | 100.0 | 8,818 |
| Total votes: 8,818 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Campbell in this election.
2023
See also: Mayoral election in Nashville, Tennessee (2023)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Mayor of Nashville
Freddie O'Connell defeated Alice Rolli in the general runoff election for Mayor of Nashville on September 14, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Freddie O'Connell (Nonpartisan) | 63.8 | 72,989 |
 | Alice Rolli (Nonpartisan) | 36.0 | 41,205 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 123 | ||
| Total votes: 114,317 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Mayor of Nashville
The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Nashville on August 3, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Freddie O'Connell (Nonpartisan) | 27.1 | 27,503 |
| ✔ | | Alice Rolli (Nonpartisan) | 20.2 | 20,472 |
 | Matthew Wiltshire (Nonpartisan) | 17.0 | 17,193 | |
 | Jeff Yarbro (Nonpartisan) | 12.2 | 12,356 | |
| Heidi Campbell (Nonpartisan) | 8.2 | 8,337 | |
 | Sharon Hurt (Nonpartisan) | 6.0 | 6,104 | |
 | Vivian Wilhoite (Nonpartisan) | 4.7 | 4,758 | |
 | Jim Gingrich (Nonpartisan) (Unofficially withdrew) | 1.6 | 1,668 | |
 | Natisha Brooks (Nonpartisan) | 1.4 | 1,458 | |
| Stephanie Johnson (Nonpartisan) | 0.6 | 581 | ||
| Fran Bush (Nonpartisan) | 0.5 | 503 | ||
 | Bernie Cox (Nonpartisan) | 0.3 | 322 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 80 | ||
| Total votes: 101,335 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- William Domann (Nonpartisan)
- Michael Rowan (Nonpartisan)
- Wisdom Zerit Teklay (Nonpartisan)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Campbell in this election.
2022
See also: Tennessee's 5th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Tennessee District 5
Andy Ogles defeated Heidi Campbell, Derrick Brantley, Daniel Cooper, and Rick Shannon in the general election for U.S. House Tennessee District 5 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Andy Ogles (R) | 55.8 | 123,558 |
| Heidi Campbell (D) | 42.3 | 93,648 | |
 | Derrick Brantley (Independent) | 0.9 | 2,090 | |
| Daniel Cooper (Independent) | 0.5 | 1,132 | ||
 | Rick Shannon (Independent) | 0.4 | 847 | |
| Total votes: 221,275 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 5
Heidi Campbell advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 5 on August 4, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Heidi Campbell | 100.0 | 30,830 |
| Total votes: 30,830 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Justicia Rizzo (D)
- Jim Cooper (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 5
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 5 on August 4, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Andy Ogles | 35.4 | 21,325 |
 | Beth Harwell | 24.9 | 15,021 | |
| Kurt Winstead | 21.1 | 12,721 | ||
 | Jeff Beierlein | 6.8 | 4,093 | |
 | Robby Starbuck (Write-in) | 4.1 | 2,492 | |
| Natisha Brooks | 2.9 | 1,747 | |
 | Geni Batchelor | 1.7 | 1,017 | |
| Timothy Lee | 1.4 | 845 | ||
 | Stewart Parks | 1.0 | 586 | |
 | Tres Wittum | 0.7 | 398 | |
| Total votes: 60,245 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Sarah Grams (R)
- Richie Lee (R)
- Quincy McKnight (R)
- Baxter Lee (R)
- David Vitalli (R)
- Morgan Ortagus (R)
Endorsements
To view Campbell's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
2020
See also: Tennessee State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Tennessee State Senate District 20
Heidi Campbell defeated incumbent Steven Dickerson in the general election for Tennessee State Senate District 20 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Heidi Campbell (D) | 51.8 | 58,746 |
 | Steven Dickerson (R) | 48.2 | 54,755 | |
| Total votes: 113,501 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tennessee State Senate District 20
Heidi Campbell defeated Kimi Abernathy in the Democratic primary for Tennessee State Senate District 20 on August 6, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Heidi Campbell | 51.4 | 13,441 |
 | Kimi Abernathy | 48.6 | 12,723 | |
| Total votes: 26,164 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Tennessee State Senate District 20
Incumbent Steven Dickerson advanced from the Republican primary for Tennessee State Senate District 20 on August 6, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Steven Dickerson | 100.0 | 14,345 |
| Total votes: 14,345 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Heidi Campbell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Campbell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My journey in politics began a decade ago, when my husband Andrew and I were fully immersed in the joys of family life, cheering on our children at soccer games and swim meets, and cherishing our life in the Oak Hill community. When a developer aimed to transform a cherished community green space into a commercial strip mall, sparking widespread concern among residents who felt their concerns were falling on deaf ears, I took to the streets to engage my neighbors. My efforts were met with success, galvanizing my commitment to public service.
This victory inspired me to pursue elected office, leading to her role as Vice Mayor and then Mayor of Oak Hill. Throughout my two terms as mayor, my priority was solving community issues. However, I frequently encountered obstacles posed by the Tennessee General Assembly, which often seemed more inclined towards division than finding solutions. This led to me seeking office in TN-20, and I won!
In the Senate, I’ve supported the rights of women, Black and brown people, our LGBTQ+ community, veterans, and teachers. I’ve fought to maintain our reproductive rights, institute common sense gun control, and provide greater funding to our foster care system. During my time in the senate I’ve run over 200 bills, and I ran the sixth-most bills of any legislator during this session!- We are currently living in a totalitarian state - Tennessee’s values are not being reflected in our state’s government, and it seems as if we are in the middle of a battle of greed vs. good. Large, out-of-state corporations are having a larger influence over our state’s policies than our citizens. While shareholder dividends and executive salaries continue to increase, Tennessee families struggle to put food on the table. Above all else, I stand for the transparency and accountability of our government—I strive to limit unnecessary spending and rid our budget of wasteful expenditures. Our citizens deserve to know exactly where their tax dollars go, how their legislators are voting, and how our legislature is impacting their daily lives.
- Every single Tennessean has the right to live openly and free of judgement. We’ve seen unprecedented attacks on our Black and brown family, LGBTQIA+ community members, people with disabilities, and women and gender minorities across our state. Understanding the complex interplay of discrimination and inequality, my legislation actively works to dismantle barriers and create a more inclusive Tennessee. I believe that advocacy is most effective when addressing systemic injustices and supporting marginalized communities while ensuring equitable access to our state and country’s resources. I will always champion all Tennesseans, especially those that our state often leaves behind.
- Our state needs common sense gun control yesterday. Guns are the number one cause of death for children across our state. We need to prioritize the vitality and well-being of Tennesseans over lining the pockets of gun manufacturers. I have introduced bills to institute red flags laws and extreme risk protection orders, raise the legal gun-owning age to 21, ban straw purchasing practices, limit high capacity magazines, and ban assault rifles. My office also maintains TN’s only gun violence statistics site, that legislators and citizens are informed of the extent of the gun violence problem in our state. I will continue to advocate for common sense gun reform — our children deserve better.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2023
Heidi Campbell did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign website
Campbell's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Public Education: Investing in Our Future Nashville schools have been and always will be a top priority for me as a public servant. As mayor, I will be a champion for public schools and will treat our educators and school staff like the true professionals they are. Many of our teachers are underpaid, overworked s/heroes who sacrifice each day to provide our kids with the education and life skills they need to thrive. As a senator, I have championed efforts to improve teacher pay, and to increase the number of reading interventionists, counselors, and school nurses across the state. I also understand that to fully fund our schools, we must work cooperatively at the local, state, and federal levels to secure the necessary resources for our kids' future. Public Safety Over the past 20 years we have passed laws to make cars and car seats safer, which has significantly reduced the number of children killed in auto accidents. Unfortunately, our elected leaders, many beholden to the gun lobby, have refused to take actions to make gun ownership safer for both the owner and public at large. We must find common-sense gun safety laws that both protect the individual rights of gun owners and prevent assault style weapons (used in both of Nashville’s recent mass shootings) from falling into the wrong hands. For meaningful reform, we need to focus on the areas where most Tennesseans–and Nashvillians, agree: 1) making background checks mandatory, faster, and more accurate; 2) putting tough limits on who can and can't purchase long guns; and 3) Red Flag laws that provide concerned family members or law enforcement a legal process to help prevent another senseless tragedy. While Nashville’s mayor can’t single handedly implement gun safety reforms, there are several things that can be done at the local level. As mayor, I will work with Metro Council and MNPD to ensure every officer and first responder are as well trained as those who rushed into the Covenant School during an active shooter situation. I will also work with MNPS, State and Federal officials to secure funding for safety enhancements and training at every Metro Nashville Public School. There is not one simple solution to this problem, but there are many steps we can take to better protect our families from another senseless act of gun violence. Affordability & Accessibility Affordability is not limited to how much it costs to put a roof overhead, or food on the table, it also includes how much people have to spend on childcare and transportation. Making high-quality childcare affordable and accessible is key to growing our economy and strengthening our workforce. While the state legislature has stripped the ability of local governments to require developers to include affordable housing as part of the planning process, there are still a number of ways to tackle the issue at the local level. As mayor, I will harness the full power of public and private partnerships, such as the Barnes Housing Trust Fund, which has leveraged more than $933 million in federal and private funds to deliver 4000 affordable housing units. In order for Nashville to continue its ascent as a global economic center, we must ensure that people can actually afford to live, work, and raise a family here in Music City. Fiscal Responsibility: Smart Growth Davidson County residents just got hit with a 34% property tax increase, while many of the out- of-town developers won’t pay property taxes for several more decades. Much of the economic benefits generated by our downtown tourist district are being recaptured to cover long term debt. Our economic development plans need to be equitable, and focused on providing for and investing in the people who live here—creating better schools, more affordable housing, and reliable transit alternatives. The success of our local businesses is more important than luring the next global corporation looking to take advantage of the tax code. We can also create more economic opportunities in neighborhoods outside of downtown, by investing in the infrastructure that will spur local investment in all quadrants of our county. As a former small-town mayor, a small business owner, and frankly—a mom, fiscal responsibility is part of my DNA. When I was elected as mayor of Oak Hill in 2014, I inherited a budget disaster. The state legislature had just cut a major revenue source and the previous mayor had let city reserves dwindle by 50%. So, when I got into office, we looked at every budget item and had to make difficult decisions, eliminating some contracts, and doing the work ourselves. To cut spending, I even eliminated my own salary. When I left office, we’d completely replenished our reserves and more. As mayor of Nashville, I will bring this same fiscal discipline to City Hall. I will work with my staff, city departments and Metro Council to conduct a full and transparent audit of our city’s ledger. My focus will be on finding more efficient and cost-effective ways to deliver quality public services. Transportation Infrastructure: Keeping Nashville Moving Serving as mayor of Oak Hill, I developed a strong understanding of the infrastructure challenges facing our community and how state and local leaders must work together to face them. As a member of the Senate Transportation committee, we recently passed the largest transportation bill in state history, thanks in large part to the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. From maintaining our roadways and bridges, to high-speed broadband and mass transit, quality infrastructure is the backbone of our economy and our public safety. I believe it’s past time to get the ball rolling on projects that will move us towards useful transit and multi-modal connectivity, as traffic gridlock continues to take hold of our federal interstates, state highways and local arterials. We can’t pave our way out of this problem, and we need to take a fresh look at how we get people out of their cars and into reliable and safe forms of public transit. As mayor, I will work closely with Metro Planning, the Nashville Department of Transportation, members of the Greater Nashville Regional Council, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, and community stakeholders, to identify and implement local and regional solutions. With unprecedented state investment in infrastructure, now is the time for Nashville and Middle Tennessee to get moving. Equity & Inclusion Many of our elected leaders have little interest in actual governance, opting instead to stoke culture wars and create further division. As a public servant, I have and will always decry racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-immigrant rhetoric and discriminatory policies and practices. My administration will honor and serve ALL Nashvillians, because we all do better when we ALL do better. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” As mayor, I commit to stand up, speak out, and keep bending that arc. Waste & Sustainability As mayor of Oak Hill, I served on the regional Solid Waste Board through the inception and development of a zero waste master plan which outlines options at different funding levels for addressing our waste issues. As a member of the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, I have gained a deep understanding of the impacts regional landfills can have on the air, water, and local communities in which they operate. As mayor, I will work with colleagues across Middle Tennessee to find more sustainable solutions to our waste challenges. I will use the office to encourage and support Davidson County residents and businesses to reduce their individual footprint through recycling and waste reduction programs. It is our responsibility to serve as stewards of our resources, and to ensure the challenges of today are not left for future generations to solve.[4][5] |
” |
2022
Heidi Campbell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Campbell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Economic Freedom- large corporations and billionaires need to pay their fair share so that hard working American families have the freedom to build a good life. We need to control government spending and get corporate interests out of the legislative process.
- Personal Freedom- Americans deserve the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions, to decide who they want to marry, where they want to worship, and how they want to educate their children without interference or influence from the government.
- Cannabis legalization is a matter when — not if. The longer we wait, the more harm we do to families and our economy. It is ridiculous that states, like Tennessee, are spending millions in tax dollars to lock people up for a plant that is legal in places right across our border. We also leave billions of dollars on the table by rejecting a policy more consistent with the rest of the country. When we do legalize, we will create thousands of jobs in rural communities that need new economic opportunities and new small businesses that push our economy forward. It’s also the right thing to do for our patients and people coping with health issues, like our veterans who say medical cannabis helps them live a fuller life with less pain.
fair taxation
fiscal responsibility
The economy
Education
Healthcare
Reproductive freedom
gun safety
Jobs
immigration reform
Infrastructure
Foreign policy
commitment to seniors
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Campbell's campaign website stated the following:
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Fighting Inflation We’re focused on freedom for families because working families are the backbone of our nation. So when they‘re struggling to make ends meet, the country struggles too. That’s why we have to fight inflation by lowering costs for families and growing the economy from the middle out. Start with child care. Increasing access to affordable child care would lower costs and bring more parents into the workforce. Let’s tackle the high cost of healthcare and bring down the cost of medicine by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for prescription drugs. Next let’s end tax breaks for off-shoring and invest in American manufacturing to create good jobs and strengthen supply chains. And let’s crack down on price gouging by giant corporations to protect families and bolster true free market competition. By standing up for middle class values, we can fight back against inflation and guarantee more freedom for working families.
Freedom for families means we’re building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out—not trickle down. It's time we returned to government of, by, and for the people — not government of, bought, and paid for by giant corporations and billionaires. Our economic policies should respect workers, not wealth. But Congressional Republicans have endorsed a plan to raise taxes on working and middle class families and put Social Security and Medicare on a chopping block every five years. Not on my watch. We must stop any attempt by Congressional Republicans to raise taxes on 75 million American families and small business owners. And we should be strengthening our promise to Americans who have worked their whole lives to retire. Congress should be passing laws that value the contributions of every hardworking family, small business and family farm and respecting our retirees. That’s freedom for families.
Investing in our children is investing in America. When we help children grow and succeed, we are paving the way for our country’s next generation of workers and leaders. Every child in America should have access to a high-quality public education, regardless of where they live, the color of their skin or how much money their parents make. It's time to live up to the promise of a high-quality public education for every student. We must fund schools adequately and equitably so that all students have access. We must treat our educators and staff like the professionals they are, and we must stop the privatization and corruption of our public education system. Finally, it’s time to set the record straight: Tennessee teachers are not dumb. They are underpaid, overworked heroes who sacrifice to provide our kids with the education and skills they need to succeed.
Working families should never go broke just because a child or loved one got sick or hurt in an accident. But that’s exactly what’s happening. With family insurance deductibles sometimes over $10,000 and premiums eating more of our paychecks, our health care system is pushing Americans into medical debt on a massive scale. We have to take action to reduce health care costs, lower the cost of prescriptions and make our health care system easier to navigate. The health of our families is more important than the bottom line of health insurance companies. But first, we must stop efforts by Congressional Republicans to repeal the progress we’ve made. They would allow insurance companies to once again discriminate against Americans with preexisting conditions, like asthma and diabetes. They’d also allow insurance companies to reinstate annual coverage caps and to kick your college student off your coverage. And they’d put Medicare and Medicaid on the chopping block every five years, endangering health coverage for some of the most vulnerable Americans. In this nation, no working family should be forced to suffer from pain or illness just because they can’t afford the doctor or medicine. A healthy economy requires healthy families and communities with strong hospitals and high-quality health care workers. That’s healthcare freedom for families.
In Tennessee, about half of our state is a childcare desert—so it’s no coincidence we have two open jobs for every available worker. Parents shouldn’t have to choose between working and making sure their kids are taken care of. But millions of parents are locked out of the workforce because they have to care for a child at home. Making high-quality child care affordable and accessible is key to growing our economy and strengthening the middle class. Freedom for families means that every working parent has access to child care and high-quality early education, like preschool. It’s also a disgrace that the United States is the only industrialized country in the world with no national paid family leave policy. We fix it by putting freedom for families first. Access to reliable and affordable child care and paid family leave will result not only in the financial stability of working families, but also economic growth and global competitiveness.
No matter where you live, what you look like or what you do, everyone should have the freedom to decide what is best for themselves and their families, including when it comes to abortion. Every pregnancy is complicated and unique, which is exactly why families should be trusted to make these decisions for themselves — without interference from politicians. We know the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade is already having horrific consequences: women and children are being forced to carry pregnancies to term; crisis pregnancies ending in more complications and misery. And data shows us that it will not reduce abortions, but it will erode quality of life and will steal economic opportunity from women in our state. The best way to reduce abortions is to reduce unwanted and teen pregnancies. That means making sure every adult has access to medically accurate information and birth control, and providing honest, age-appropriate sex education to our kids.
Cannabis legalization is a matter when — not if. The longer we wait, the more harm we do to families and our economy. It is ridiculous that states, like Tennessee, are spending millions in tax dollars to lock people up for a plant that is legal in places right across our border. We also leave billions of dollars on the table by rejecting a policy more consistent with the rest of the country. When we do legalize, we will create thousands of jobs in rural communities that need new economic opportunities and new small businesses that push our economy forward. It’s also the right thing to do for our patients and people coping with health issues, like our veterans who say medical cannabis helps them live a fuller life with less pain. Let’s spread justice and jobs with cannabis reform. It’s time. And while we continue to push for legalization, we should at least re-schedule on the federal level immediately. This reform would encourage better state policy that recognizes the overwhelming statewide support for expansion.
America’s gun violence problem is out of control: Gun shot wounds are now the leading cause of death of American kids. Here in Tennessee, our gun violence rates are among the worst in the country. We ought to be able to find our way to common-sense gun safety laws that protect the rights of gun owners and hunters without giving every would-be criminal the right to purchase assault weapons for drive-by shootings and school massacres. It's time to stop focusing on divisive issues that have negligible impact in our lives when lives are being lost every day because we aren’t tackling the problem of violent crime. We need to focus on the areas where large majorities of Americans — and Tennesseans — agree on common sense solutions like:
We can guarantee the rights and freedoms of law-abiding Americans while taking steps to keep our schools, churches and communities safe.
Americans used to know that if they worked hard and played by the rules, they'd be able to take care of their families, send their kids to college, and have a secure retirement, but today, the rules have been rewritten by lobbyists for billionaires and big campaign donors. We should return to the basic idea that built the greatest economy on earth: that everyone plays by the same rules and pays their fair share. There are about 800 billionaires in America and their average tax rate is about 8%. Billionaires and giant corporations posting record profits should not be paying a lower tax rate than construction workers, teachers and firefighters. We should stop rewarding corporations that ship American jobs overseas and stop asking middle class taxpayers to fund tax breaks for big oil. It’s long overdue that big corporations and the super wealthy start paying their fair share—just like working and middle class families do. That would help our country make smart investments for families, pay down the debt and fight back against inflation. Americans should be working their way into the middle class — not falling out of it. Our tax code should reflect those values.
Families have to keep a responsible budget—Congress should too. As a small town mayor, a small business owner, and, frankly, a mom, fiscal responsibility is one of my top priorities. When I got elected mayor of Oak Hill in 2014, I inherited a budget mess. A decision by the state legislature, made beyond our control, cut a major source of revenue for the town. And, under the previous mayor, our reserves had dwindled by 50%. So I did what moms do. We looked at every budget item and we made some hard decisions to get our house in order. We eliminated some contracts and did the work ourselves. We cut down on spending. And I even eliminated my own salary as mayor. When I left office we’d completely replenished our reserves and more — all without the lost state revenue. This year’s federal budget deficit is projected to be more than a trillion dollars lower than last year’s budget — that’s the largest ever one-year decline in our country’s history. This kind of fiscal discipline is in my DNA, and, in Congress, I will be a voice for responsible budgets.
Every Tennessee family deserves the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water and live in a healthy community. But we have work to do if we’re going to pass that promise onto the next generation and leave our water, air and land better than we found it. It’s time to embrace a clean energy future for America. We can fight climate change and its worst effects with clean energy investments in good American jobs that build our infrastructure to be more resilient against extreme weather and lower energy costs for families. And the time to act is now. From hurricanes and record flooding to droughts and historic wildfires, we’ve seen the effects of climate change firsthand. It’s claiming lives and causing billions of dollars in economic damages that disproportionately impact our most vulnerable communities. Clean energy will make us stronger too. The record high fuel prices earlier this summer served as a stark reminder that we must focus on becoming less dependent on fossil fuels. We should continue incentivizing clean energy initiatives that bring good paying jobs and economic benefit to communities, like the new Ford electric vehicle plant in West Tennessee. If we don’t have a habitable planet, everything else is irrelevant.
No matter where you live, your family deserves the freedom and opportunity to thrive. To achieve this goal, we need: new regional transportation solutions, like roads, bridges and railways; affordable housing; high-speed internet that better connects our communities to marketplaces; and smarter infrastructure that can withstand the growing threat of natural disasters. We know from looking at other booming areas, infrastructure development is one of the biggest challenges to maintaining growth and that challenge is compounded by extreme weather events like flooding. Government and business both have a role to play in creating the conditions that allow working families, small business owners and family farms the continued freedom to thrive. I was proud to support state investments in clean energy jobs, but we must do more to spur innovation, create good-paying, sustainable jobs and be good stewards of land and water. And it’s urgent: Lives, businesses, schools and infrastructure are being lost all across the state due to the increasing frequency of billion-dollar, climate-enhanced natural disasters like flooding. As a small town mayor, I was a member of the Greater Nashville Regional Council’s Mayor Caucus where we worked on long-term plans for smart growth, resilient infrastructure, managing municipal waste, and developing our home care workforce. As a Tennessee senator, I sponsored a law to study passenger rail service in the state. By working together, we can invest in infrastructure upgrades that make our communities healthier, improve our commute to work, increase time with our families and make business more predictable.
The right to vote is the cornerstone of American democracy. Federal protections for voting rights should guarantee this right for all eligible citizens and protect it from the whims of state politicians of either party. Many states have encouraged more people to vote for years, through policies like mail-in voting, early voting and same-day registration. Federal protection of voting rights should give everyone in the nation the same kinds of opportunities to vote.
We need to enforce the immigration laws we have on the books to keep our border strong, but we also need to modernize our outdated immigration laws for the 21st century. Our national immigration policy should manage the border responsibly, strengthen our economy and America’s middle class, and treat people with basic respect. We should provide a pathway to earn citizenship for hardworking people who contribute to our communities every day and who have lived here for years — especially our Dreamers and the essential workers who risk their lives to serve and protect American communities. On the border, we must make smart investments that both address the root causes of migration from Central America and create a more orderly and efficient system, including a well-regulated and fair guest worker program. With smarter policy, there are skilled workers and under-utilized professionals who could help American businesses achieve their goals right now and strengthen the middle class.
The key to America’s strength on the world stage is the strength of our international alliances in security, trade and in defense of freedom. If America is to lead the world in fighting global threats to our health and safety, economies and democracy, we must start by renewing our commitment to these values at home. America should lead by example and show the world what it takes to meet shared challenges no one nation can solve on its own, from climate change to nuclear proliferation, from unprovoked military aggression to terrorism, from cyberwarfare to mass migration. Standing on the sidelines while these urgent crises boil over surrenders our position in the world to those who want America to fail. Our foreign policy should also strengthen America’s middle class. We all want to see the words “Made in America” on products sold around the globe. Becoming the world’s leader in manufacturing and agriculture is not only essential to our economic security — it’s essential to our national security. Imagine if our grandparents had fought World War II without factories and American-grown food. To achieve these results for working families, it's time we negotiate trade agreements that lift workers up and stop bringing the pay and benefits of American workers down to the level of Mexico and China.
For nearly a century, the promise in this country has been simple: anyone working hard has the right to a dignified retirement. Count on me to fight back against dangerous efforts to cut and privatize Social Security and Medicare that would directly harm older Tennesseans, as well as surviving spouses and Tennesseans with disabilities. Instead, I’ll work to give a pay raise to seniors and other beneficiaries of these critical benefits. Let’s put more money in seniors’ pockets by increasing benefits, cutting taxes, and ensuring that Social Security keeps up with the rising cost of living so that no one who has spent a lifetime working hard has to retire into poverty—all of which we can do by raising workers’ wages so we’re investing more money into retirement, and by asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. We must strengthen and expand Medicare by lowering the eligibility age to 60 and allowing people to buy in at 50, allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices—which would result in big savings for seniors and taxpayers—and expanding benefits to include vision, dental, and hearing coverage so older Tennesseans can get the care they need.[5] |
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| —Heidi Campbell's campaign website (2022)[6] | ||
2020
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released April 12, 2020 |
Heidi Campbell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Campbell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Decisive and proven leadership- serving second term as mayor of a city in the district
- Consensus builder- works with people on both sides of the aisle
- Honesty, integrity, and fiscal responsibility
Consensus-building; we need to stop allowing the radical right to divide us on a handful of issues we'll never agree on, and work together on the 80% of issues we do agree on. We need to stop wasting our time on ridiculous radical legislation to jail librarians, and punish minorities.
Opposed to vouchers- we need to pay our teachers more, and invest in all of our children.
Infrastructure in our state is in serious need of attention.
Fiscal responsibility- we need to make sure that we're putting our tax dollars to work for our citizens.
Election integrity- fair and safe elections are the cornerstone of Democracy.
We need safe and conscientious gun legislation.
Climate change, and protecting our environment is at the top of my list- if we don't have a habitable environment, the rest of it is irrelevant.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
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Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
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Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Tennessee scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 9 to April 25.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 10 to April 21.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 11 to April 28.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 5.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 14 to June 19.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Tennessee State Senate District 20 |
Officeholder Tennessee State Senate District 20 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 State Senate District 20, "Mayor Heidi Campbell," accessed March 29, 2021
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 14, 2020.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 TN General Assembly, "Senator Heidi Campbell," accessed March 29, 2021
- ↑ Heidi Campbell's campaign website, "Priorities," accessed June 30, 2023
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Campbell 4 Congress, “Issues,” accessed September 28, 2022
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Steven Dickerson (R) |
Tennessee State Senate District 20 2020-Present |
Succeeded by - |
