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| National Political Caucus board member Deidre Malone moderate the Memphis Women's Political Caucus Town Hall on July 12. (Photos by Wiley Henry) |
Two political stalwarts vying for the opportunity to
represent the constituents in Senate Dist. 30 touted their experience and
answered a volley of questions lobbed by National Political Caucus board member Deidre Malone, who moderated the Memphis
Women's Political Caucus Town Hall Meeting on July 12.
Women’s issues took
center-stage in this town hall and drew a roomful of spectators and public
office seekers to Amurica Studios in the Crosstown community, as state Sen.
Sara Kyle and former senator Beverly Marrero discussed relevant issues
pertaining to women.
“In this current season, it’s
important to empower women, to inform them, and to encourage them to be a part
of the political process,” said Latrivia Welch, president of the Memphis
Women's Political Caucus (MWPC), a non-profit promoting full and
equal participation of women in government and political parties.
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| State Sen. Sara Kyle (right) and former senator Beverly Marrero discussed issues relevant to women. |
The purpose of the town hall was
to highlight two leaders in the community, said Welch, and the work they are
doing for Dist. 30. “We applaud them for their willingness to be featured in
our first town hall,” she said.
Kyle and Marrero, pitted against each
other for the Senate seat that Kyle currently holds, are on the campaign trail
leading up to the Aug. 4 Democratic and Republican state and federal primary
elections and the Shelby County general election. The general election for this
seat is in November.
Both Kyle and Marrero, who are
familiar with the political landscape, sat adjacent to each other and espoused
legislation that they had a hand in fashioning and discussed germane issues
that would uplift women.
Kyle, an attorney, was elected in 2014 to fill the seat that
her husband, former Senate minority leader Jim Kyle, left vacant after he was
elected to Chancery Court. She is the second woman to be elected statewide. No
other woman has been elected statewide since.
Marrero spent nine years in Nashville
and lost the seat in 2012 to Jim Kyle, then the highest-ranking Democrat. Kyle
opted to run against Marrero rather than face Republican Brian
Kelsey when districts were redrawn that year.
Explaining why she’s seeking
re-election, Kyle said, “We’re 51 percent of the population. Only 22 women are
running statewide in House and Senate races.”
“It’s important for women to have
a voice and to speak their mind,” Marrero added. “We don’t have representation
that can represent us.”
Priorities? Marrero said if she were elected, she’d work on pay equity for
women. Kyle would do the same, she said, to bridge the wage gap that separates
men and women.
“The gap is larger for women of
color,” said Kyle, adding that women finishing college “face a 7 percent wage
gap.”
The health care
debate continues to rage, with both sides of the aisle in the Tennessee General
Assembly digging in their heals and refusing to budge one iota on a plan to
insure the state’s uninsured adults.
“Viagra is covered by insurance and birth control is not.
That’s an abomination,” said Marrero. “We have people dying because they
can’t afford medical care. What kind of sick people who don’t want people to
have health care?”
President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which he signed into
law in 2010, has been widely eschewed and denounced by Republicans. Gov. Bill
Haslam, however, offered an alternative in 2015 to expand Medicaid. Insure
Tennessee failed by a vote of 7-4.
“It’s a no-brainer to vote yes on the governor’s health care
bill,” said Kyle. “Tennessee should have gotten $1.4 billion dollars. It would
have created two million jobs.”
The candidates fielded a number of Malone’s questions, from
funding education to economic development to fixing the schools. Since
questions came from the audience, someone wanted to know the candidates’
feelings about the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I think it’s necessary,” Kyle said.
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