Together, Tennessee Thrives: Hitting the Road with Dr. Jason Martin

By Lauren Means • Photos Courtesy Dr. Jason Martin

“We are on some rural roads so hopefully the cell phone connection will keep up with us,” said Dr. Jason Martin as he was traveling somewhere between Hancock and Hawkins counties. He was in the middle of his 95 Counties in 95 Days Tennessee Thrives Tour. 

Dr. Martin’s intention with this tour is to hear from people across Tennessee who are living with the consequences of our current administration. He wants to know what is needed in different communities from the community members in order to form a cohesive plan for his constituents.    

He isn’t a politician by trade and hasn’t been deeply involved in politics… until recently. Dr. Martin explained he has always been politically conscious and a political contributor but not behind the microphone. He said that actually intimidated him a bit but he knows he has a unique voice due to his background. 

Dr. Martin is a critical care physician who’s been working on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sumner county. It’s his training and experience as a physician that he says gives him a skill set that will allow him to be effective as Governor. “I’m used to dealing with high-pressure situations with very serious consequences… life or death consequences,” said Martin. 

Due to personal and professional traits that he’s developed during his career, he’s also able to navigate input from several different points of view to arrive at a consensus. He says he is a lifelong student and able to learn the policy issues that he will be charged with. Dr. Martin also offers the fact that he is a listener as a major part of being a leader. “People are anxious to hear their own voices,” said Martin. “The best leader in the room is the one who is listening.” And that’s who he wants to be.

As for taking the plunge to run for the Democratic ticket for governor, he attributes the enormous loss of life he saw stemming from the pandemic as a catalyst. “It was a process to get to this point in my head,” noted Martin, but he said having to say goodbye to 100s and 100s of patients in his small, 20 bed ICU sealed his decision. 

Dr. Martin said an ounce of leadership or any political courage to speak the truth and guide us through it might have changed the outcomes for many Tennesseans. “It’s the lack of leadership that has devastated us with COVID-19, Tennessee being 47th in school funding, and leading in per capita in the country for medical bankruptcies,” explained Martin. 

“As the crisis deepened, I realized I wanted to step up and be part of the solution,” Martin added.

Positive Tennessee for Everyone 

Running on a platform that will include affordable health care, fully-funded public education and job creation, Martin has his sights set on creating a positive Tennessee for everyone. This includes Medicaid expansion. “It is pure politics that we haven’t expanded it yet,” Martin said. He notes that 14 hospitals in Tennessee have closed since 2012, mainly in rural areas “Rural Tennessee is paying the price.” 

This hope for a positive Tennessee for everyone also involves standing up in opposition to the “Slate of Hate” that has become a yearly attack that rolls around at the beginning of the legislative session in Tennessee. “Whether it’s adoption rights for same-sex families or the anti-transgender legislation we saw last year, it’s important to stand up and speak about an inclusive vision for Tennessee,“ Martin stated.

Walking the Walk

“That was the rainiest parade I have ever been a part of but the rain did not stop the love in the crowd,” Dr. Martin remarked when speaking about this year’s Nashville Pride parade. It was something vital to be a part of for Martin. “I was grateful to be a part of it and grateful to have my three daughters and members of my campaign there,” he proudly stated. 

“It’s important for the chief executive of the state and responsible citizens to stand and say we are one Tennessee and one community and we are not going to tolerate a government that singles out certain groups for, basically, persecution,” Dr. Martin proclaimed. His belief is that the current administration brought about the anti-transgender bills this year in an effort to hide their failures when it came to COVID. “They love to throw distractions when they have policy failures,” he said. 

In the end. Dr. Martin says he knows we can do better in Tennessee. He explained, “I’m not a politician and I honestly think that’s a strength. Bill Lee’s failure is not because he hasn’t been a politician for 20 or 30 years. It’s that he has put his priorities in all the wrong places. I am looking forward to creating an inclusive vision to push Tennessee forward.”

For more information on Dr. Jason Martin and his platform visit https://martinfortn.com/. He loves hearing from the people he will be serving and can be reached through any of his social media channels found on his website or via email at [email protected].