Cameron Parsons
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Cameron Parsons (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Tennessee's 1st Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Parsons completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Cameron Parsons was born in Lebanon, Virginia. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia's College at Wise in 2012. Parsons' career experience includes working as a feedstock coordinator.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Tennessee's 1st Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Tennessee District 1
Incumbent Diana Harshbarger defeated Cameron Parsons, Richard Baker, and Matt Makrom in the general election for U.S. House Tennessee District 1 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Diana Harshbarger (R) | 78.3 | 147,241 |
 | Cameron Parsons (D)  | 19.7 | 37,049 | |
 | Richard Baker (Independent) | 1.3 | 2,466 | |
 | Matt Makrom (Independent) | 0.7 | 1,247 | |
| Total votes: 188,003 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 1
Cameron Parsons advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 1 on August 4, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cameron Parsons | 100.0 | 6,099 |
| Total votes: 6,099 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 1
Incumbent Diana Harshbarger advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 1 on August 4, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Diana Harshbarger | 100.0 | 43,761 |
| Total votes: 43,761 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Chuck Miller (R)
- Austin Wyatt (R)
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Cameron Parsons completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Parsons' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am Cameron Parsons. I am a father, a husband, and my family is my life. I enjoy learning new things, solving problems, and being outdoors. I have worked mostly in scientific research and analytical chemistry. I approach issues logically, and with an open mind. I have very conservative friends and very liberal friends. I don’t see politics as a winner take all competition, but a way for multiple ideas to be vetted and compromises achieved. I wanted to run for Congress because this country is continuing to pass bloated budgets, elect corrupt leaders, and allow our rights to be trampled. I see so many of these issues going unfixed because of partisan politics. I will work with anyone that is willing to do so. I have tangible ideas to make everyday life better for all Americans. We can fix this, and get our government working for the people again. For the better of this country, we must stop the culture wars, celebrity worship, and identity nonsense. We are putting our future and our freedoms in danger to promote petty arguments. I want to focus on the issues, and deliver policy decisions that make us better.
- Families across the country are under more pressures than ever before. We have to be able to talk openly about these issues, identify solutions, implement those solutions, and work to make the future a better place. Abortion is one of those issues that everyone feels very strongly about. I want to work with both Democrats and Republicans to strengthen families, make adoptions easier, help protect children, and reduce the number of abortions in this country. Everyone agrees with that message, but no one is acting on it. My highest priority is helping the families of this country.
- The economy is engine that brings us peace and prosperity. The government is the guide and the guardian of our economy. It should do just enough, that people can enjoy freedom and independence, but not be robbed or mistreated. Our government has been one of the biggest supporters of innovation and technology in the world, and we have enjoyed a long period of unmatched prosperity. Our government should do more in that area, but cut spending that is wasteful. Before enacting new laws, our government should review existing regulations, make it easier to follow, and flexible enough to not smother businesses. In other words, our government should work for the people of this country to make life easier, not harder.
- Politicians on both sides are growing more and more out of touch with regular people. We can fix a lot of Congress’s issues by protecting the integrity of our elections, cracking down on corruption, reforming campaign finance, and establishing term limits. This is 2022, our elections should be free, fair, and accurate. Insider trading has disgraced our incumbent Representative and members of both parties. No one is above the law, and these people must be held accountable.
I am personally interested in balancing the federal budget, reducing abortions, fixing Social Security, and making sure that the United States remains the most innovative country in the world. All of those things are achievable and would make a positive, tangible impact on everyone. I am excited for the opportunity to fix these pressing issues.
I am passionate about efficiency, fixing problems, and leaving things in a better state than when I found them. Government seems to be doing none of those things anymore, and we the people, deserve better. We have to get our budgets under control, we have to defend our Constitutional rights, and we have to support Americans and their economic interests. The reason no one is doing this is that it is hard to do those things. I am putting in the work to find key policy areas, look for solutions, and to find some consensus on those those issues we can change. Keep checking my website, TN1.us, as I work to make more of these ideas visible to the voters.
I love history, so I could talk about this for a long time. Two of my favorite Founding Fathers are Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine. Those men were two of the greatest writers to ever live and played a huge part in the early success of our country. Theodore Roosevelt started his life as a sickly child, but became one of the greatest Americans through determination and drive. As far as role models go, those are some of the best.
One of the most important principles for anyone is integrity, unfortunately, it is also the most rare in members of Congress. Money and power have become the driving force for so many promising officials. Most negotiations appear to be occurring in bad faith, lies are more common than the truth, and members are ignoring the best interests of voters. We must hold members accountable. Honor is something that I want to return, as it has disappeared from our Representatives. It involves respect for others and respect for yourself. We would all benefit if our leaders did that a little bit more.
By running for office, I get the chance to show that politicians can be good and decent people. A chance to leave this world a better place for my family. I could be known as the person that corrected many of the wrongs that have gone on unchallenged for too long. However, the only legacy I can fully control is the one that I leave for my family. I want them to know that I loved them very much, I always tried to do the right thing for them and myself, and that they should always be good and decent people.
I was born in 1989, so I was 3 when ‘Skins won their last Super Bowl and 9 when Tennessee won their last National Championship. I remember the Presidency of Bill Clinton fondly, but the most important event of my lifetime was 9/11. Our 6th grade classroom had turned on the news to see the events unfolding in New York City just in time to see the second plane strike. That terrorist attack changed the course of our country. I love history, so I could talk about this for a long time. Two of my favorite Founding Fathers are Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine. Those men were two of the greatest writers to ever live and played a huge part in the early success of our country. Theodore Roosevelt started his life as a sickly child, but became one of the greatest Americans through determination and drive. As far as role models go, those are some of the best.
My first job was as a lifeguard during high school and college. Altogether, I was a lifeguard for 6 years.
The Plague by Albert Camus. This book is a classic, and it was the basis for at least three of my major term papers in college. I only now realized the overlap with the story and the Covid 19 epidemic. It is the story of a city ravaged by plague and an allegory of the horrors of WW2. Despite the worst situations one can imagine, “there are more things to admire in men than to despise.”
Phillip Marlowe, the classic hardboiled detective from the 1930s and 40s.
The theme song to Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse, thanks to my 2 year old.
The House is unique in that it is and average citizen’s closest representative in the federal government. Each member of the House represents about 700,000 people on average, every pair of Senators represent each state’s population, and the President represents every American. For a long time, it was the only directly elected official that the people had in the federal government. The House remains the government entity that is most directly connected to the will of the American people.
Obviously, experience is one of the most beneficial attributes for any position. Looking at Congress now, I can safely say that no one’s experience is adding any benefit to the American people. The most important attributes are a willingness to work, maintain integrity, and the ability to make the good decisions on the behalf of the people. Those are the attributes that I would bring to Congress.
My great grandmother was born in 1918, and I loved to talk to her about the events in her life, the Great Depression, WW2, and so on. She lived to see some of the most profound changes I can imagine. For better or worse, time continues to progress and so does our technologies. Rapid advancements in artificial intelligences, robotics, computing, communications, could change life as we know it within such a short period of time. It is both frightening and encouraging. That is our greatest challenge, to not shy away from the difficult moments, but to take them head on, and make ourselves better in the process. I know that we can do, because we have done it before. We can beat Communist China, we can beat the political pundits and celebrities waging culture wars, we can fix any wrong that exists in our system of government. The people of the United States will take on any challenge and be successful.
The most important committees are Appropriations, Rules, and Ways and Means. Those three touch nearly every significant action in Congress. I would be honored to be a part of any of those important committees. My personal interests would be in the Budget, Ethics, and the Science, Space, and Technology committees. I have expressed desires to balance budgets, make government efficient, and ensure the United States leads the world in innovation. Those committees would be the best places to work on those goals directly.
Yes, two years is the correct term length. The main problem is that most members of Congress spend most of their time fundraising instead of doing the job they were elected to do. Fixing term limits, campaign finance, and other corrupting influences will make Congress more representative.
We must establish Congressional term limits. Unfortunately, many politicians become corrupted by money and power. Term limits at least put some level of control on the situation. Additional steps would be to fix gerrymandering, limiting out of control campaign contributions, ensuring free and fair elections, etc.
My list is too long, so I will limit it to current Representatives. Mike Simpson (R) of Idaho, Mike Garcia (R) of California, and Liz Cheney (R) of Wyoming are three really good conservative leaders. Tennessee is lucky to have two good Democratic Representatives, Jim Cooper and Steve Cohen. Abigail Spanberger and Jennifer Wexton from Virginia are also really good role models. Not in the House, but Senator Tammy Duckworth is one of my favorite politicians. She should be a household name in this country.
I have received a lot of positive feedback about my campaign, because it focuses on the most important issues facing our country. The economy, corruption in government, and balanced budgets are all things that we agree on in Northeast Tennessee. The most important thing I hear about is family. Our families are the reason we want this country to be successful. It represents the best possible outcome for anyone. You can be who you want to be, say what you want to say, and have the freedom to not worry about a repressive government tell you what to do. That is why families stick out to me. We can’t always agree on policies, but we all agree that families need better from the government. That is what keeps me encouraged.
"Why are cows the best dancers? ... They have all the best Moo-ves" - my 6 year old
Modern politics has skewed a lot of people into thinking that compromise is a bad thing. Compromise is necessary and desirable. No one person or party is capable of knowing every outcome, every need, or every detail of a problem. It is the main reason that intelligent people seek diversity, to learn new things. The United States government was established as a compromise, it survived based on compromise, and we live in a society based on daily compromise. However, compromise is never easy. It has alway been difficult and challenging. That is why we elect these Representatives, to do the hard work on our behalf. Any member of Congress that is unable to compromise and make decisions in the best interests of the American people is unfit to serve.
Balancing the budget is one of my top priorities. We pay more than enough in taxes to cover every need in this country. We should investigate every dollar to determine if it can be used more efficiently in some other situation. We should prosecute those that are stealing or wasting the government’s money. American businesses need clear guidance and support if we are serious about competition on global markets. Business tax rates should be close to the 15% global minimum that was recently agreed on. American people are taxed enough as it is, and those rates should be lowered as much as possible. The growing deficit is absolutely terrifying, and both sides are to blame. We have to fix that before it becomes a disaster.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Parsons' campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Abortion
Budgets
Guns
Conservation
Terrorism
Law and Order
Infrastructure
Reform
The Economy
Healthcare
Immigration
Social Security
|
” |
| —Cameron Parsons' campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 8, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Parsons for Tennessee, “The Issues,” accessed September 29, 2022
