“Plucky” comes to mind when you meet state Sen. Mae Beavers. She’s a fighter who doesn’t hide her opinions. Sadly, those opinions, when taken together, make Attila the Hun look kind.
Beavers and her husband, Jerry, visited Powell Auction today at the invitation of Howard Phillips. She’s running for governor – one of probably five serious candidates. None will get to the right of Beavers on guns (she likes them), a state income tax (she’s against it), the recent state gasoline tax (ditto), a bathroom bill (“our schools shouldn’t be a social experiment”), school testing (“the ACT is enough”), environmental regs (“it’s not the EPA, it’s the state that’s keeping us from growing our businesses”), driver’s licenses for illegals (nada).
Beavers went to Nashville in 1994 – the same year as Bill Dunn and Tim Burchett locally, and the Newt Gingrich Contract with America folks nationally. “There were only 38 Republicans in the (Tennessee) House,” she said.
Kelvin Moxley asked how Beavers plans to compete with wealthy candidates in the GOP primary. “Hopefully, the people of Tennessee can’t be bought,” she said. “I’m the only (candidate) who’s a social conservative to the bone; who’s a fiscal conservative to the bone.”
Beavers was a court reporter, a paralegal and a real estate agent. She’s chaired legislative committees in the House and Senate and says she will come into office with policy initiatives and ideas on how to clean things up. “There are many rural counties where folks feel left behind,” she added, echoing Donald Trump.
Afterwards, husband Jerry, retired from UPS, said Mae will work hard. She’s done that all of her life. She actually traveled the state during the term of Gov. Don Sundquist to line up legislators against a state income tax. “Some of them were wishy washy until the horn blowing (around Capitol Hill) started.”