Judd Matheny, an eight term Tennessee State Representative, has formally announced that he is a candidate in the Republican primary for Congress in Tennessee’s Sixth Congressional District.
He was in Smithville Friday on a campaign tour through the district.
Matheny is seeking the seat currently held by Congressman Diane Black. She is expected to make a run for Governor next year.
He is a Veteran of the Tennessee Army National Guard, and a Veteran of local and state law enforcement. He has been one of Tennessee’s most consistently conservative legislators and activists.
“We’re visiting all the smaller rural counties in the sixth district today in ten stops in about eleven hours. Last week we were in nine counties. We have officially been in all nineteen counties in the district twice in the last two weeks and some of them three times,” said Matheny.
A resident of Coffee County, Matheny said he is known throughout the Upper Cumberland area having once worked as a law enforcement officer. “I worked in twelve of these counties as a police officer back in the 1990’s as a state drug enforcement officer. I was a patrolman in the Cookeville area for the City of Baxter,” he continued.
Matheny talked about his years in the state legislature. “My hallmarks have always been being pro Homeland Security and pro defense. Many of the things President Trump is talking about doing now, I have been trying to do them for fifteen years in the legislature. I passed the strongest state level anti-terrorism laws in the country. I was the first to pass comprehensive meth laws in the country when I first got elected. I intend to take the experiences that I have learned and the very strong impactful conservative record I have to Washington D.C. I am a big proponent of states’ rights. I want to make sure that the states have less reliance on the federal government. I fought for that very hard in Tennessee and when I get to Washington I’m going to push power down and give Tennesseans, not less money, but more control of the money they have,” said Matheny.
Matheny is married to his wife, Christy, of 18 years. They have two children in high school and all three have been full supporters of his years in politics.
The Tennessee U.S. 6th Congressional District consists of the following counties:Cannon, Clay, Coffee, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Robertson, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, White, Wilson and portions of Cheatham and Van Buren.
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