The political debate between state Rep. Kevin Dunlap and challenger Paul Sherrell went smoothly enough Monday night until presidential candidates were mentioned.
When Sherrell held up a Trump sign and declared he was supporting Donald Trump for president, it brought vocal reactions from both sides.
“Here’s something a lot of folks have asked me in Warren County, Grundy and White,” said Sherrell. “Who am I supporting for president? I am supporting Trump. Why? Because he supports you and I, and people in this world who want us to keep our guns. Obama and Hillary Clinton want to take your guns away, and the next thing you know they’ll be wanting to take your Bibles away, and the next thing they’ll do is to allow anything to happen. I’m telling you, we need to support Trump to keep America.”
Those comments were made during Sherrell’s closing remarks. Dunlap didn’t address presidential candidates, but he did take issue with Sherrell for sending what he described as nasty and untrue political mailers.
“I have run a positive campaign,” said Dunlap. “The mailers our campaign has sent out tell about my background, about my issues, about my positions, and they tell about my endorsements. The campaign material that my opponent has sent out has beared false witness. He has a scripture on his campaign signs, John 3:16, but yet what he sends through the mail is the negative, untruths, and garbage that has turned so many of our American citizens against politics. I have a voting record. I have a website. I stand on my voting record and the endorsements that I have. My record speaks for itself.”
Sherrell, a Republican, is working to unseat Dunlap, who has served one term in the General Assembly. Both candidates have embraced pro-life, pro-gun campaigns, and both made many references to the Bible on Monday night.
Said Sherrell, “I am a Christian and I support Christian values. I am a conservative and I support the conservative morals."
Continued Sherrell, "I am a former police officer and not a career politician. This is my card that I’ve given to lots of people in the 43rd District, Grundy, Warren, and White counties, somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 cards that I’ve given out to folks. And the reason I’m showing you this card is my home number is on this card. If you call me, I will call you back. I want to protect our right to bear arms and I am a member of the NRA. I believe life begins at conception and I believe marriage is between a man and a woman according to the Bible.”
Dunlap is a lifelong resident of the 43rd District, other than the years he attended college. He grew up on a Rock Island dairy farm and says he’s honored to be a deacon at his church and a Sunday school teacher.
When asked about the push to make the Bible the official state book earlier this year, Dunlap said he voted for the measure.
“I did not feel it was a violation of Separation of Church and State or the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment so I voted for the Bible,” said Dunlap. “I am a Christian. I am a conservative and my voting record backs that up. And when the governor of our state vetoed that bill, I voted to override the governor. However, the votes were not there and the governor’s override was sustained, but I stayed consistent. I live by the precepts and the values of the Bible. It has set up my faith and made me who I am today.”
A majority of states have adopted a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. When asked, Sherrell said he would not be in favor of raising the minimum wage in Tennessee to more than the federal minimum wage.
“In Tennessee, it is my understanding, the majority of people say raising the minimum wage is not good for Tennessee,” said Sherrell. “Other states have tried this. If you want to say people working at McDonald’s raising their minimum wage to $15 an hour, and people who work at McDonald’s are as important as anybody, but the price of raising that minimum wage, the price when you do that, what’s that going to do to the product? It’s going to raise the price of the product … It is my understanding that in the studies they’ve done, raising the minimum wage would not be good for Tennessee, although I realize we all want to make as much as we can per hour, every one of us would, but is that what’s best for the state of Tennessee? It may be good for California, but California is way out yonder on the West Coast and Tennessee is right here. California is probably going to go bankrupt.”
Dunlap said his first two years in the General Assembly have been productive and the three-county area he serves has benefitted.
“We’ve worked hard to bring more money for roads to our district,” said Dunlap. “The road superintendents in our three counties have had more money for state-aid roads since I’ve been in the legislature. We have had hundreds of millions of dollars of new money invested into education since I’ve been in the legislature. We’re going to continue to do that working with our jobs and industries to enhance our education system so that our citizens have high-paying jobs. That is how we boost our middle class. That is how we boost our economy. That is how we boost the standard of living for our citizens.”