Dave Seeman

Tennessee can’t wait on Washington or TVA to fix this. I’d pass a moratorium for up to 24-months to give us time to set up the proper standards, and end it sooner if the standards are established. My comprehensive five-policy-plan for AI and datacenters is on my site, just scroll down and click data centers.

Regarding bills: I’d have data centers pay upfront for the wiring and transmission they need, post financial security before they connect, and match 110% of their consumption with new clean generation on the same grid, hour by hour. Fall short and they pay a rising charge per megawatt-hour; three shortfalls in five years and they’re suspended. TVA’s new capacity charge is a step in the right direction, but a 10% increase phased over three years doesn’t cover what these facilities cost the rest of us.

Regarding reliability: my plan calls for placing data centers on our grid with two hour backup by battery, and only allows fossil fuel power or critical life support systems. I believe this creates incentives for data centers to invest in a grid that’s safe for us, too.

Regarding air quality: the primary purpose of the moratorium is to set up an Environmental Justice Division inside TDEC with authority to deny permits that push a community past safe limits, publish a public map of health burdens like pollution, and the power to shut down unpermitted operations. What xAI did in Memphis would be illegal under my plan.

The science on childhood vaccines is settled: they’re safe, they work, and when coverage falls outbreaks can follow.

But I don’t believe Tennessee will get back to 95% by ordering people around. In public health, trust has to stay high, and mandates from Nashville tend to lower it. My approach is to reduce barriers and increase incentives to get the behavior we need. That means keeping vaccines free, bringing them to where families already are through school-based clinics and county health departments, and compensating parents for time and travel in the counties furthest below the line. My plan puts twice-daily buses and a community health center in every county, which gives rural families a pediatrician instead of a two-hour drive.

I’d also have the Department of Health publish county-level coverage every year, so communities can see where they stand and local doctors, pastors, and school nurses can lead the conversation. They’re trusted in ways a governor isn’t.

Many under-vaccinated kids aren’t refusers. Their families lacked access or incentives. I’d fix access and incentives, and let trusted people do the persuading.

Every year we wait on climate action, storms like Helene get more expensive. That’s why it’s the centerpiece of my plan. Here are three ways to address climate resilience.

First, we need to harden our water systems. Helene disrupted 24 drinking water facilities in East Tennessee. I’d retrofit them to withstand the next flood, obligate the $202.5 million in federal lead pipe money Tennessee is sitting on before the 2027 deadline, and backfill expiring federal loan forgiveness so small water systems aren’t stranded.

Second, we need to harden the grid. Every major storm knocks out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, and we rebuild the same lines. I’d start burying power lines in the highest-damage corridors with a pilot funded half by federal grid resilience grants, track outage data, and expand on the evidence.

Third, we need to get warnings into homes. The Cookeville tornado and the Waverly flood killed people who never got the alert. I’d run a 95-county emergency management assessment, pilot last-mile warnings so the state’s new mesonet reaches people at 2 a.m., and build a live shelter inventory families can check before the storm.

Teachers leave over pay, workload, and support, and science teachers have the most options. I support these four policies, all paid for by ending vouchers and returning that $304 million a year to public schools.

First, pay. Tennessee’s $50,000 floor is now law, but I’d index it to inflation so it doesn’t erode.

Second, workload. Teachers tell me they’re doing the jobs of counselors and social workers. I project we can hire up to ~800 of them toward the recommended 250-to-1 ratio, starting in the schools with the highest combined vacancy and emergency-credential rates.

Third, support. I’d fund two full years of trained coaching for every beginning teacher. The largest trial of teacher induction found that support through the second year was essential for student achievement, so that’s what we’ll fund.

Fourth, retention. Tennessee’s own $5,000 Priority-school bonus worked for top-rated teachers in tested subjects, but nowhere else. So I’d pay it there, and keep paying it for three years if the school exits Priority status so success doesn’t lead to a pay cut.

I’m open to a science-specific differential if districts show it closes vacancies.

Trust in science isn’t lost because scientists are wrong. It’s lost when people can’t relate to the communication or understand the work, when they had no stake in the process, and when leadership casts doubt on it.

First, we have to make public communication about science simple, friendly, and encouraging. If it’s too complex it’s alienating, and if it’s too absolute it’s off-putting. My plan creates a Tennessee Outcomes Commissioner with a fixed term and independence from the governor who publishes plain-language annual reports on living standards and environmental quality, so Tennesseans can see whether a policy is working for their family, not just whether it passed.

Second, give people input. My Office of Civic Design brings randomly selected Tennesseans together, supported by experts, to tell the legislature what to focus on now and ten years out, and lawmakers must respond in writing within 90 days.

Lastly, I’ll support scientific literacy and research. I’d create the TRAC Fund to match university investment to recruit researchers and help them build Tennessee companies. People trust science they can see working in their own town.