Michaela Barnett

Working hard should get you ahead, not put you behind.

A healthcare system’s success should be measured by how many patients it heals, not how much profit it generates for its shareholders.

The system is rigged because our elected officials are bought off by corporate interests. If we are going to solve any of the crises we face, we have to fight corruption and fix what’s broken in our government.

We send federal tax dollars to Washington. We deserve a Representative who will fight to bring those dollars home and invest in our region.

Gas prices are soaring, groceries cost too much, and rents are out of control all across East Tennessee. Washington insiders on both sides of the aisle aren't working to make our lives better — they're waiting it out.

A successful future for our workforce, our economy, and our country means passing legislation that supports workers, families, and innovation, not just the already-wealthy.

Quality healthcare should be affordable and accessible to everyone who needs it.

Speaking out is important, but Michaela knows that we can't just be a voice in opposition — we have to show the American people our vision for the future, our plan for how we're going to achieve it, and fight for it with all our might. That's why Michaela is running to serve the people of East Tennessee.

Then, Michaela went to work in Congress as a science policy fellow, where she saw firsthand how our leaders in DC were failing East Tennessee.

INVEST IN OUR EDUCATION

SUPPORT EAST TENNESSEE FARMERS

Secure federal appropriations for workforce development and job training programs that bring high-paying jobs back to East Tennessee

Fund our most critical road and bridge projects by using my engineering background and committee work to direct federal dollars towards critical road and bridge repairs

End partisan gerrymandering by requiring independent redistricting commissions, ensuring free and fair elections where every vote counts equally

Advocate for public-private manufacturing partnerships: I’ll work to bring manufacturing grants and tax incentives to East Tennessee businesses that create quality local jobs and lower costs for consumers

Invest in vocational and trades education by working to secure federal career and technical education (CTE) funding for programs that will train the construction and energy workforce our region needs to build its own future

Campaign finance laws make it so corporations and wealthy individuals can spend without limit on our elections.

If we are going to solve any of the crises we face – access to affordable healthcare and housing, ensuring that AI doesn’t take all of our jobs, protecting our environment, and so many more – we have to fix what’s broken in our government.

Supports federal workforce and job-training investment, infrastructure and apprenticeship funding, a phased federal minimum wage of at least $15 per hour, stronger labor and antitrust enforcement, increased federal R&D and STEM investment, manufacturing incentives, expanded semiconductor production, higher taxes on extreme wealth, and expanded national-service programs.

• The campaign groups these mechanisms under a single economic plan focused on workers, manufacturing, innovation, and local job creation.

Supports tighter rules on insurers, expanded ACA premium tax credits, a universal healthcare option alongside private supplemental coverage, broader prescription-drug price caps and negotiation, more federally funded medical residencies, higher rural Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, expanded telehealth, community health programs, and evidence-based substance-use treatment.

Supports limiting corporate political spending, overturning Citizens United through constitutional amendment, independent redistricting commissions, a congressional stock-trading ban, age limits for federal executive and legislative offices, post-congressional lobbying restrictions, congressional term limits, and Supreme Court term limits with a binding ethics code.

Supports federal funding for roads and bridges, clean-water upgrades, rural broadband, career and technical education, transit and regional rail, school infrastructure, and clean-energy manufacturing, together with housing incentives intended to expand supply while protecting rural land.

Supports reducing barriers to housing construction, lowering costs for low-income housing projects, training construction workers, funding innovative housing projects, supporting rural affordable housing, expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and limiting the number of residential units owned by corporations and foreign investors.

Supports increased VA funding, full funding for veteran mental-health and suicide-prevention programs, services for veterans involved in the criminal-justice system, job training and employment protections, affordable education options for veterans and their families, and ending open-ended authorizations for foreign wars.

Supports federal privacy legislation intended to restrict mass surveillance and government overreach and protect people from warrantless tracking and collection of personal-location data.

• A July 2026 campaign newsroom statement specifically cites automated license-plate-reader surveillance as a concern.