Just a little bit south of Nashville, you’ll find the little conservative paradise called Franklin, Tennessee… Well, it’s a paradise for some. It’s far from MY idea of paradise… But if you like gated communities, Civil War reenactments, & embarrassing republican candidates, you might find it charming. Franklin is one one of the wealthiest cities in one of the wealthiest counties in the entire United States: Williamson County. Williamson County experienced a population boom when white parents fled Nashville after finding out their precious white children were going to have attend the same school as Black kids, and many of those White-Flighters ended up in Franklin. I really try to limit my trips there, but the only other Costco in Middle Tennessee is WAY far away from my house… So when I have a hankering for a family portion of street tacos, bulk snacks for these ravenous kids, or a $1.50 hot dog, I’m kind of stuck. When I DO go, I make sure to wear T-shirts that ruffle their rich little conservative christian feathers… Like the one that says, “Jesus Was An Unarmed Black Man.”

But this post isn’t to heckle Franklin for its racist, White Flight past. This post is to draw your attention to one of the most truly disgusting people to ever run for public office in this part of the country (and that is saying a LOT, because this area has also produced the moral & ethical abortion know as Marsha Blackburn). Imagine someone who can actually stand out against the villainous backdrop of a lying scoundrel like Marsha Blackburn… Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you Gabrielle Hanson.

The first time I heard of Gabrielle Hanson was after the Covenant School shooting. Three kids and three adults were murdered in a school shooting, and immediately after, every quasi-religious nutjob & QAnon-adjacent clown in the area started spreading rumor & lies & conspiracy theories about who was killed & why it happened. Within this disgusting noise, I heard of a Franklin Alderman (I admit I have no idea what an Alderman does, but I know it’s an elected figure) who said she KNEW it was going to happen before it happened. That Alderman was Gabrielle Hanson. She said on a podcast that she told an officer that “her GUT told her there was going to be an active shooter” and that when the shooting happened, she was “not surprised.” She went on to say that “within 30 minutes of the shooting, [she] had the whole story,” and then detailed allegations of a “love triangle.” Here is a recording of her getting totally chewed out & shamed (by a host of this area’s far-right talk radio station, no less) for her lies & gossipy falsehoods about the Covenant shootings.

This year the Board of Aldermen (I take it there’s more than one Alderman) were tied on a vote as to whether or not to allow a Pride festival in Franklin. When current Franklin mayor, republican Ken Moore, broke the tie and allowed the Pride celebration, some locals were angry, and Hanson saw her opportunity… So she decided to run against Moore (who has been Mayor since 2011) hoping to collect the votes of Franklin’s angry homophobes & bigots. Award-winning local journalist Phil Williams started doing stories on Gabrielle Hanson’s bizarre & troubling campaign, and I have been following his coverage of her craziness. Here’s where shit gets ridiculous…

Hanson posted a picture of a “lunch with her supporters,” but the picture was a 2015 photo featuring women from Chicago, who—when Phil contacted them—denied knowing her, said they were appalled, and definitely said they don’t support her. She dodged questions about it. She claimed the women were lying about not knowing her or supporting her because they were “protecting her.” Then, when Phil contacted her by phone, she & her soon-to-be-former campaign manager had an almost comically wild recorded conversation where they made up names and defended their right to lie on social media because of “Missouri v. Biden.” Digging deeper, he found that she was arrested in Texas for felony promoting prostitution. Phil also discovered that Hanson had an alias (Julie Newhouse) listed in her prostitution charges, which she later almost certainly perjured herself about.

Now, you’d think this would be enough to get a person to drop out of a political race… But that would only be if that person had a sense of shame. Gabrielle Hanson does not. Phil requested the body-cam video from the officer who Hanson said she foretold about the mass shooting at Covenant school (that the Holy Spirit told her about). But looking over the entire video, NOTHING was said by Gabrielle Hanson to the officer that had ANYTHING to do with a warning about a shooting… Proving she lied. She was brought before the Board of Mayor & Alderman for a potential censure because she used her position to try to get funding removed for a Juneteenth celebration (SUPER classy). THEN, the woman who fought against the Franklin Pride festival turns out supported her a husband who wore ONLY an American flag speedo to a Pride event in Chicago. And, as if this weren’t enough, after Phil showed up to a debate in the Franklin community of Westhaven and got assaulted by Hanson supporters, the following debate, she was escorted into the venue by members of a white supremacist group who call themselves the “Tennessee Active Club” who volunteered to be her security & give a show of force. The Tennessee Active Club meets at Brad Lewis’ Country Store and describe themselves as “actual literal nazis.” When given a chance to distance herself from her white supremacist protectors, she declined to comment, but some REALLY creepy women came to her defense. Anyway, here are some of her security detail…

Okay… So what? So a horrible, lying person wants to be the mayor of a town of about 90k people… So what if every bit of the craziness I just chronicled is true, and yet another charlatan, grifting republican carpetbagger wants to ride a wave of right-wing ignorance & hatred to a position of power… What difference does that make to people who are not living in Franklin, Tennessee? Or even to me, one city over? I DEFINITELY would have never been able to tell you the name of Franklin’s mayor before this circus.

Here’s why I think it matters: Because journalism matters. And truth matters. And I want to believe that most people who could vote for someone like Gabrielle Hanson are doing it because they are either ignorant or deceived. I’m willing to bet that I have almost NOTHING in common politically with Ken Moore. And at this point in the country’s history, Franklin is the kind of beet-red place where no democrat has a chance to win. Political contests are going to come down to either the conservative republican, or the republican who is almost indistinguishable from a full-fledged fascist… And that candidate is Gabrielle Hanson. It is time for informed republicans with a shred of honor & self-respect left to stand up to the worst people on the planet—of whom Gabrielle Hanson is a prime example—and tell them to their lying faces that they NEED to find some shame. Do we really need to continue this race to the bottom? Can we not just call “partnering with neo-nazis to intimidate journalists into not asking you hard questions about the many lies you’ve told” THE BOTTOM? PLEASE??

And maybe, just maybe, people will see the rejection of a horrible person like Gabrielle Hanson, & they will recognize something resembling integrity & honor, and folks in the deepest red parts of Tennessee will realize that Marsha Blackburn is ALSO a sickening cancer on this state & our nation, and they will vote her lying, corrupt, fascist ass out of office as well, and vote for a good person like Gloria Johnson. And wouldn’t THAT be something…

If you have friends or family who live in Franklin, TN, call them. Text them. Show them the stories about this disgusting mayoral candidate and her bottomless immorality. Ask them if they think that voting for allowing one day for Queer folks to celebrate Pride is worth voting in someone who is aligning herself with “actual literal nazis.” Gabrielle Hanson is so awful that national news is even picking it up. This mayoral election could be decided by a very small amount of people. How about we see if we can’t prevent the worst person on the ballot from winning… Just this once? Also, if you’d like to support my writing and this blog, you can do that by BECOMING A PATRON, or by leaving a tip ON PAYPAL or by Venmoing me at chris-boeskool. Stay hopeful.