From a little-known candidate to the front runner for the governor’s mansion, Republican nominee Bill Lee made a stop in Smithville Friday afternoon for a town hall meeting during his whirlwind tour to again visit all 95 Tennessee counties in 95 days.
“What happens in rural Tennessee matters to every Tennessean,” Lee said of his trek across the state aboard his farm tractor earlier this year. “After we did our rural road tour we did faith in Tennessee tour. My faith in Christ is the most important thing in my life and that will never change.”
Lee believes nonprofit organizations can have a tremendous impact on the issues of the state. “When the government partners with those nonprofits, we can do powerful things,” Lee said, noting he has met with over 30 nonprofit organizations during his campaign, seeing what they do for their communities. “They do some amazing things.”
Lee, owner of the Lee Company, has never sought office but believes he can bring what he has learned in the private sector to lead Tennessee.
“I lost my first wife in an accident when I was 40 on our farm,” Lee revealed. “I share that story because it affected me so profoundly on who I am. Because of that life changing experience, God changed my heart in that process.”
Smithville ReviewLee said he got involved in nonprofit work and volunteered in an inner-city program. “Every child in the state deserves a school system that gives them a bright future,” Lee said. “We have a lot of work we need to do in public education.”
Lee also got involved in Men of Valor where he mentored a prisoner who had just been released. “About 95 percent of people who are in a jail cell right now will get out,” Lee said. “Right now, 50 percent of those people will recommit a crime within two years. We pay for that in so many ways.”
Lee says he feels what he has learned in working with nonprofits and in the business sector can be a benefit for Tennessee.
“What if it was my job to make life better for six and a half million people?” Lee said of what prompted him to run for office after leading the Lee Company where he employed 1,200. “That caused me and my wife Maria to spend a year praying and we made a decision to run.”
While there are many challenges the next governor will face, Lee says it can be broken down into basic things that all Tennesseans want.
“I think people want a good job, a good school for their kid and a safe neighborhood to live in,” Lee broke it down. “That’s what matters in every single county.”
