Lauren Pinkston
IndependentQ1 Data centers and the TVA grid (Energy / AI / Environment) – Data center electricity use in the Tennessee Valley has grown roughly sevenfold since 2020, and in the Memphis area, gas turbines powering AI data centers have raised air-quality concerns. What specific policies, if any, would you support to protect Tennesseans’ electricity bills, grid reliability, and air quality as data centers expand?
Tennessee needs to press pause on data center development immediately. No new projects should be approved until the state can convene a working group with representatives from local governments, community-serving nonprofits, utilities and data center companies. This group must create siting standards that ensure data centers do not pollute our water, increase electricity bills or impose unreasonable noise levels on nearby communities. I will work with the Legislature to pass these policies statewide and give local communities the technical assistance they need to enforce these standards. Beyond this, I support the TVA’s decision to charge data centers more for their power usage. This policy must continue so the additional demand does not require rate hikes on other users.
Q2 Childhood vaccination (Public Health / Trust in Science) – According to the Tennessee Department of Health, roughly 80% of Tennessee counties fall below the 95% kindergarten vaccination rate needed to prevent outbreaks of diseases such as measles. What policies, if any, would you support to manage vaccine-preventable diseases in Tennessee?
Tennessee must provide science-backed information to parents and families about the benefits of vaccination. The ultimate responsibility for vaccinations lies with parents, so the state must use persuasion — instead of coercion — to encourage enough parents to vaccinate their children against measles and other common diseases so that the state maintains herd immunity. The measles outbreak in Pennsylvania is a reminder of what happens when herd immunity drops. As governor, I would work with physicians, medical professionals and vaccine skeptics to develop informational materials that the Department of Health and the Department of Education can use to inform families.
Q3 Flooding and extreme-weather resilience (Environment / Climate) – Two years after Tropical Storm Helene, East Tennessee communities are still rebuilding, and a 2026 winter storm left hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans without power. What specific steps, if any, would you take to prepare Tennessee’s communities, infrastructure, and power grid for severe weather?
There need to be conversations about undergrounding electricity lines in high-risk areas. This can be costly, but it can reduce the chance of outages during a storm or the chance of a downed power line starting a fire in a drought. The state should also require local utility companies to publicly report data on outages and response times so that lawmakers can identify and assist lower performing utilities. The Tennessee Emergency Management Authority should also ensure that communications regarding mutual aid agreements are clear and consistent across counties and between Tennessee and our neighboring states.
Q5 State Science Education (K-12 Science Education) Secondary science (biology, chemistry, and physics) is one of the subject areas where Tennessee schools most often face teacher vacancies or rely on teachers with emergency credentials, and Tennessee lost a larger share of its teachers between 2023 and 2025 than any other state. What specific state policies, if any, would you support to recruit and keep qualified science teachers in Tennessee classrooms, particularly in rural and high-need districts?
Teacher recruitment and retention depends on improving salaries and giving teachers more flexibility in how they adapt to their classroom’s needs. As a former classroom educator, I support reducing benchmark testing as the only measure of student performance so teachers can focus on their students and their expertise is trusted as an authoritative voice in the room. Reducing benchmark testing will also alleviate financial stress at the local school board level, opening up funding for other needed resources.
Q6 Trust in science (Policymaking Process / Trust in Science) – Distrust in science has been on the rise among the general public and policymakers, which has been associated with changes in federal funding for scientific research. In order to bridge this gap, how do you think scientists and policymakers can work together to strengthen their communication?
The most effective way to break down distrust is to create dialogue between people of differing backgrounds. I would convene a panel of scientists, lawmakers, medical professionals, alternative medicine practitioners and skeptics of conventional medicine to have frank discussions. This panel would have the opportunity to weigh in on my health and wellness policy priorities and give recommendations to the General Assembly.