Madison Co. represented at Democratic National Convention

Kyle Lusby wasn’t raised to be a member of the Democratic Party.

“I was raised in a Southern Baptist home with the typical values you’d expect that are in line with the Republican Party,” Lusby said. “But over time as the Republican Party has changed, a lot of the party’s stance on issues have changed – or at least a lot of the more vocal people in the party.

“To the point that a lot of the issues that dominated the party as recently as 15 years ago have almost switched parties in that time.”

It’s for that reason that Lusby saw himself change over time until he figured out that his beliefs and ideologies fall more in line with the Democratic Party to the point that he was elected to be one of four representatives of Tennessee’s Eighth Congressional District at the Democratic National Convention last week – Madison County’s only representative at the event.

“I talked with a number of people at the Convention who had similar stories to mine – grown up a moderate Republican who no longer feel like they’re a part of that party anymore,” Lusby said. “[Former President Donald Trump] added $8 trillion to the national debt in his four years in office, but somehow they’re the fiscally conservative party.

“In the 1980s when Ronald Reagan was President, he and the Republicans wanted to protect Western Europe, and that ideology is completely reversed as Russia and other despots in Eastern Europe are seen by many Republicans as potential allies. Even with the abortion issue, Republicans are against it, but many are against any kind of birth aid like IVF treatment. How can the Republican Party, who touts themselves as pro-family, be against those families who’ve begun with IVF treatment?”

Lusby said he was proud to be able to represent Madison County and District 8 in Chicago last week.

“This is going to sound like an unusual comparison, but the attitude in the Democratic Party right now is an optimistic and hopeful one that almost seems like the one surrounding Barack Obama in 2008 or to go back even further, when Reagan ran for re-election and had the campaign that said, ‘It’s morning in America,’” Lusby said. “The Democratic Party and this movement behind Vice-President Kamala Harris feels like it’s morning in America again and we’ve got a chance to make positive change and overcome this movement of Republicans that are almost against everything – or at least their platform is more about what they’re against than what they’re for accomplishing.

“And if there are any moderate Republicans who agree with me and have a similar story to mine, come talk to me. Even if you wind up voting Republican again in four years or even two years in the mid-terms, I feel like if you look at the perspective from the Democratic Party right now, you might be surprised at how much you agree with us compared to how much you agree with the vocal extremists from your own party.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news