Jay Adkins runs for Congress
Published 3:11 pm Tuesday, July 7, 2020
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When asked to describe himself, Jay Adkins gives himself three titles – a foster dad, a veteran, and an engineer.
Adkins, who is running for Congress and lives in Stoney Creek, returned home from Iraq 10 years ago. He detailed working various manufacturing jobs, including Snap-On, and also graduated from East Tennessee State University while working full time.
In his decision to run for Congress, Adkins noted his disappointment with politics several years ago.
“I got fed up with what the establishment GOP was doing,” he explained. “It really hit me back in 2016 when the GOP begged us for our vote and promised to defund planned parenthood and repealing and replacing ObamaCare.
“When we had control of the House, control of the Senate, had a Republican president, those things weren’t done, and I feel like that’s what happened to Republicans a lot recently.”
Adkins said this made him want to run, noting that President Trump had used the phrase “drain the swamp.”
“I think the only way we can do that is to actually flush it out with nonpoliticians, people who haven’t been career politicians.”
Adkins went on to describe the type of candidate he is.
“I am a grassroots candidate, so I have not run for office before,” he explained. “As my literature says, I’m pro-life, I’m pro-gun. I know every Republican candidate says those things, but I live them out.”
Adkins explained that with his affiliation to being pro-life he wants to support children beyond just being born. He attributes his desire to helping adoption and the foster system, as well as his own reason for being a foster parent, to his faith.
His platform also includes the criminal justice system.
“One of the things I think differentiates me from other candidates is I am for criminal justice reform,” he explained. “I believe we need to support the police and we need to have law and order, but once somebody has served their sentence and paid their debt to society, I think it’s really important that we get them back into society and we allow them to live a life, not as a second-class citizen.”
On why people should vote for him, Adkins explained that if people are happy with what we have had as the status quo he is probably not the candidate for them, but if they are tired of career politicians who make promises but don’t stand up for this district, then to check out his platform.
Adkins will be having a meet and greet in Carter County at the Carter County Republican Party Headquarters, located at 527 E. Elk Avenue, on July 16 from 4-6 p.m.
For more information on Jay Adkins, you can go to www.jayadkinsforcongress.com. He also has Facebook and Instagram pages and a Youtube channel. He can be contacted via email at contact@jayadkinsforcongress.com.