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Sam Bledsoe
Sam Bledsoe (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Tennessee House of Representatives to represent District 61. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Bledsoe completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Sam Bledsoe was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He obtained a bachelor's degree from Tennessee Technological University in 2007. Bledsoe's professional experience includes working as in software development and as the chief technology officer of a Nashville-based tech startup. He is a member of the Williamson County Young Democrats and the Middle Tennessee Democratic Socialists of America.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 61
Incumbent Brandon Ogles defeated Sam Bledsoe in the general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 61 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Brandon Ogles (R) | 65.9 | 27,440 | |
Sam Bledsoe (D)  | 34.1 | 14,178 | ||
| Total votes: 41,618 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 61
Sam Bledsoe advanced from the Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 61 on August 6, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Sam Bledsoe | 100.0 | 3,203 | |
| Total votes: 3,203 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 61
Incumbent Brandon Ogles advanced from the Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 61 on August 6, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Brandon Ogles | 100.0 | 8,180 | |
| Total votes: 8,180 | |||
| = 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
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sam Bledsoe completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bledsoe'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 highschool girlfriend decided she'd marry me, and we live in Brentwood with our two kids. We won a fight against cancer together (Ewing Sarcoma, I'm missing a clavicle) with the help of Vanderbilt Hospital.
For the last fifteen years, my wife has run a small family business. We practice responsible budgeting and we've both worked hard since we were teenagers.
We are grateful for what we have. We aren't sure about the future though, for ourselves or our kids. Retirement programs, pensions, healthcare and wages have been under attack by big companies and both parties for decades. Those same groups have systematically destroyed our natural environment.
The people in charge now are the most powerful rulers in the history of the world. We're hearing from them that we "just can't afford" to provide the basics of life to our citizens. Of course we can do this. All it requires is the will - our country can make it happen.- Make it so all Tennesseans can go to the doctor and get their medicine
- Reverse what we're doing to the planet, both climate change and the sixth mass extinction
- Pay teachers at least $60,000 per year and provide great public education
The Green New Deal (It's short, read it!) is a great way to start responsibly stewarding our natural environment. In particular, expanding federal spending on Tennessee's water infrastructure is a critical commonsense step to take.
You've heard all about Climate Change, but The Sixth Mass Extinction is also underway. This is an additional, separate problem from climate change that is just as dangerous. The last mass extinction killed off the dinosaurs and the third one killed off 96% of species.
We know how mass extinctions work, and human activity - mainly industrial ecocide - started a new one within the last 200 years. Only massive fundamental changes in how we produce goods and services can change the ecological path we're on.
My parents' generation is leaving the world worse than they found it. Let's do better for our kids.
- Worker Power
Workers don't need people to fight for them, we need to be able to fight for ourselves.. Tennesseeans are skilled, dedicated, and highly competent. Our pro-corporate laws give the power to employers though, at the expense of workers. Until this changes, big companies will always own the political process.
Competence is the only attribute that makes it possible to work towards our own goals, rather than being used as a tool by other forces or people. It's the thing that inspires people to follow, and keeps followers on board. Being competent does not guarantee we will achieve or even work towards good-faith objectives that benefit our society, but it at least makes it possible.
This raises the question of what goals we should take on. These should come compassion, understanding, and common cause with the people in our families, communities, region, and the world generally. We should work to bring about conditions where everyone has their material and social/emotional needs met, and has influence on the decisions that affect their lives. These goals naturally produce opposition from people who benefit fro depriving others, or from retaining outsized control over other peoples' circumstances. That conflict is unavoidable and we should use it to further our bringing about a just world.
A highschool friend said it'd be a cool job, so I joined up. It was hard work - running food and bussing tables during rushes, serving, and opening and closing a very popular restaurant. Lots of nights Joey drove me home after 10pm, with a box or two or leftover pizza or calzones or spaghetti. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
The memories from that place are wild, Joey's whole family hung around and Chris swore like an angry sailor. One day the news was Joey's (very young!) son got a new dirtbike, another day his daughter got a new convertible. We literally threw spaghetti at the wall to see if it would stick, since that meant it was done. When they needed something they'd yell sam-AY! Joey was sure he was the first and most clever person to ever call me Sam I Am.
Before that was Aphex Twin's Avril 14th because it's a calm and beautiful piece in the middle of an (very great) insane album of overwhelming electronic music. I listened to that one a lot with the Joubert Singers' Stand on the Word and some Wulfpeck albums.
I had four months of chemo, then a major surgery to remove one clavicle (turns out you don't really need em!), then four more months of chemo. The treatment protocol was setup for adolescents who heal faster, so the whole process was a constant beatdown.
Loved ones, family and doctors got me through it. I learned how much we have to rely on others to get by, and how much it means to have people show up when you need them. I received so much help with meals, cards from friends, and thoughtful accommodation from people in my life.
Doctors at Vanderbilt almost definitely saved my life. I learned patience during 37 hour visits to the Emergency Department, and gratitude to the doctors and staff that spent their days making sure I'd be OK. I found respect for the institution of Vanderbilt Hospital.
Life certainly teaches a lot of lessons in times like that. I learned how much of our lives come down to luck, despite our studious responsibility and healthy personal choices. I learned that saying "if there's anything I can do..." is useless, and it's better to either show up and say Hi, or send food. I still miss having the best excuse possibly ever, which is that I have cancer.
It's even more beneficial for elected officials to understand how people in their district live their lives, the issues that affect them and their history and context, and their own principles and values.
The trends that make political and economic action on climate change and ecocide difficult - historic levels of inequality in wealth, income, and power; almost complete dominance of the political process by the richest people and biggest companies; transnational companies avoiding any accountability or tax contribution - are on a track to continue to get worse. In the face of the massive disparity in power between regular people and the ruling class, how will the people (demos) reassert power (cratos) - how will we wrench our system towards democracy?
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.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 23, 2020
