When I first considered running for U.S. Senate in Georgia I contacted dozens of people I had worked with throughout my life to seek their input and advice. Whether we had partnered to save and remake Sweet Briar College, whether we had litigated to take on corporate corruption at the highest levels, whether we had collaborated to reverse community blight, whether we campaigned together in my bid to become the first woman mayor of Columbus, Georgia, or whether we had worked together to lead Columbus to be named one of the Top 25 Best Run Cities in America, my colleagues mentioned the same theme, the same words. You have guts, grit, determination, gumption, they would say--and boy do we need that in Washington today.
Gumption may be a word you don’t hear as much anymore, but you see it every day. It still applies to the effort of those everyday folks who accomplish things beyond their perceived capabilities, those who won’t let others set limitations for them, or those who have the initiative to change “the way things have always been done”.
Gumption is something I learned about from watching my mom. With the help of a union job working in grocery store meat departments, she managed to claw her way out of generational poverty in south-central Georgia. She and my dad were able to provide a middle-class life to my sister and me, enabling us to go to college. I went on to become a lawyer, where I developed a hard-fought reputation for taking on bullies and was later elected twice to be mayor of a large majority-minority in southwest Georgia - where we accomplished big things like reforming our criminal justice system, reducing crime by 42%, reducing homelessness by 40%, saving our public pension, and remaking our budget to provide city and county services at the lowest cost per person of any major city in Georgia. Now, that’s good leadership, that’s good government and that took gumption.
For nearly a year, I’ve been traveling across Georgia in my bid to replace David Perdue in the U.S. Senate. Everywhere I go, I see examples of that same gumption I saw in my mom. Whether it’s the school bus driver up at the crack of dawn who gets kids safely to school with a smile on her face or a young music entrepreneur recreating business and influencing the nation’s economic and cultural landscape--I see gumption running deep in Georgians.
With a little gumption in Washington, D.C., we could take on healthcare, root out corruption, reform our criminal justice system, protect the vote, enact reasonable gun laws, and tackle the climate crisis. The possibilities are endless of what we can accomplish if our elected leaders exercise the initiative to make government work for the people again.
Please watch my video, recommend it to your friends and followers and join my campaign today. Together, we can bring a strong dose of sorely-needed Gumption to Washington, DC.
Follow our campaign on Twitter at @TeresaTomlinson
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