Mitchell Skelton
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Mitchell Skelton (Republican Party) ran for election to the Tennessee House of Representatives to represent District 71. He lost in the Republican primary on August 4, 2022.
Skelton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Mitchell Skelton was born in Waynesboro, Tennessee. Skelton's professional experience includes working as a small business owner and minister. He earned a bachelor's degree from Lipscomb University in 1992.[1]
Skelton has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- Wayne County Chamber of Commerce
- Wayne County Republican Party
- Wayne County Republican Women (Associate Member)
- Tennessee Republican Party
- Wayne County High School Wildcat Club
- The Butterfly Foundation (past board member)
- Tennessee Tech University Parents Association
- American Association of Screen Printers
- NRA
- NFIB
- Tau Phi Fraternity Alumni
Elections
2022
See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 71
Kip Capley defeated David Carson II in the general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 71 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kip Capley (R) | 81.7 | 14,585 |
 | David Carson II (D) | 18.3 | 3,264 | |
| Total votes: 17,849 | |||
 = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 71
David Carson II advanced from the Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 71 on August 4, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | David Carson II | 100.0 | 1,201 |
| Total votes: 1,201 | |||
| = 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 Tennessee House of Representatives District 71
Kip Capley defeated Jason Rich, Mitchell Skelton, and Bill White in the Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 71 on August 4, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kip Capley | 33.6 | 3,589 |
| Jason Rich | 32.2 | 3,441 | |
 | Mitchell Skelton | 18.3 | 1,959 | |
| Bill White | 15.8 | 1,689 | |
| Total votes: 10,678 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Mitchell Skelton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Skelton's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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A Christian conservative, Mitchell's experience as a local business owner will provide the leadership and representation the region needs in Nashville. He promises to serve as a strong voice in Nashville to prevent government overreach, block mandates, and keep our businesses and churches open. Mitchell is married to the former Sheryl Lynn Andrews and they have three children, Reagan, John Austin, and Chloe. They attend Waynesboro Church of Christ where Mitchell serves as a pulpit minister.
- My experience as a small business owner and minister uniquely qualifies me to serve the 71st District. Because of my work and life experience, I’ve shown the ability to do the work required as well as the ability to work with people long term. I know how to rise to the challenge of crisis, and I know how to manage and administer large scale projects. Most importantly, I realize the primary purpose of a Tennessee State Representative is to serve as an advocate of the people. I won’t get lost in legislation and taxation in Nashville, I’ll be the voice of the individual who needs help navigating government bureaucracy and I'll do so with honor and integrity.
- Education is too important to be ignored simply because it doesn’t poll well. I believe teachers deserve better pay. I want to see curriculum decisions made at the local level with input between teachers and parents.
- We must limit emergency powers and the power of executive orders. No one person should have the power to shut down businesses or houses of worship. I will be the loudest voice of the people in Nashville to protect the freedoms granted to us in the constitution.
I am committed to ensuring that the freedom of Tennesseans to worship, work, operate their businesses, and live as free Americans will never be taken away from them again! God forbid, we face another pandemic or similar catastrophe in the future, no individual government bureaucrat or elected official should have the power to strip away our God given rights.
Education is often listed as an “issue” in the realm of political campaigns which I believe fails to address the duty with which we’ve been entrusted with of teaching our children. People who run for political office in areas where education is under their purview should automatically have a stance or set of ideals about the education of our youth. Education isn’t a matter of polling… it shouldn’t matter what issues are at the top of our mind at the moment. Education is too important to be ignored simply because it doesn’t poll well. I believe that education should be a permanent fixture an important focus for legislators and candidates.
I am passionate about preserving the First Amendment and Second Amendment to the Constitution.
Most of the people in government that I admire are those that serve because it is the right thing to do. I've been fortunate to know several State Representatives whose approach I want to emulate because they focused on the people the represented and not the office itself. Many people use an office like State Representative as a steppingstone to higher office or as a way to make connections that leads to a high paying job elsewhere, this kind of self-serving attitude is what's wrong with our country today. I want to serve as a true people's representative. I have no desire to be governor, state senator, or to hold any other office, I simply want to serve God and the neighbors of my district.
My guiding principles will come from my relationship with Jesus Christ. I will filter all decisions through the bible and my Christian values first. The next set of principles that will guide me are my conservative values. I am a fiscal conservative. As a representative of the people, I will also keep my "finger on the pulse" of the district. In areas where my values as a Christian and a Conservative allow, I will vote in the way that represents the consensus of our district.
I believe my experience as a small business owner and minister uniquely qualifies me to serve the 71st District. Because of my work and life experience, I’ve shown not just the ability to do the work required but that I can work with people long term. I know how to rise to the challenge of crisis, and I know how to manage and administer large scale projects. Most importantly, I realize the primary purpose of a Tennessee State Representative is to serve as an advocate of the people of the 71st District.
Other than my experience as a business owner and minister, I believe that my three best qualities are patience, honor and integrity. Patience is often overlooked and sometimes we even demonize it by calling it stubbornness but there is a difference. Having patience means that I don't give up easily especially when the task is worth completing. I can tolerate a lot of delay and endure a lot of hardship to eventually accomplish a worthy goal. In all things I strive to be honorable and have integrity. I'll do the right thing and I'll be honest about my reasons for doing so.
A state representative must be willing and able to work tirelessly in constituent services. When a resident of the district needs help navigating the vast bureaucracy of the state, their state representative should be there to help.
The Bible. In the bible I can find the answers to all the problems we face in our society today. I can read about men and women who made mistakes and were redeemed because of their faith. The Bible reminds me that I have a higher purpose. Most importantly, the bible teaches me about the debt I owe to my fellow man. It explains all throughout its pages how to love my fellow man. The Bible reminds me that the sincerest way I can show love to others is by serving others.
A good understanding of what the governor wants to accomplish is necessary. The governor should make himself or herself available to the legislature and his or her goals should be clearly set out. As the members of the legislature are sent to serve as the voice of the people then the governor should listen carefully to what is being said by individual members and seriously consider all legislation that passes. The business and livelihood of the people of Tennessee is too important to be caught up in petty squabbles and power grabs between politicians.
Tennessee's greatest challenge over the next decade is being forward thinking enough to plan for the continued growth of our state (which is primarily in and around our major metropolitan areas) without leaving our rural counties behind. Things many people take for granted like broadband internet access, cell phone coverage, access to clean drinking water, should not be something we have to talk about in 10 years, we need to take care of these now.
We have a bicameral legislature in Tennessee, and it has served us well.
I believe it is beneficial for state legislators to be citizen servants and not career politicians. A state representative should understand what the members of their district experience on a daily basis.
Ideally the members of the General Assembly would all have at least a cordial, and collegial relationship with one another. In order to do any meaningful work, the members need allies to help write, sponsor, and pass critical legislation. On the other hand, the members should not just blindly support every piece of legislation put forth simply because of friendship or political affiliation.
I'd like to be on the education committee and business and commerce.
I desire to be the State Representative for District 71. I am running to serve the people that live here and give back to the community that has given so much to me. I have no desire at the present time to run for any other position.
We need checks and balances on Emergency Powers! Emergency powers have been greatly abused and if we don't place some serious limits on them, they will be abused again in the future. No single person should have the ability to use emergency powers that disrupt the lives of the entire state. Emergency powers should be limited to small geographical areas for a short time period only. Any act of emergency powers that extends past a small geographical area should have to be approved by the General Assembly. Emergency powers should be limited by law so that they cannot be used to shut down our places of worship or our businesses.
Compromise, to an extent, is necessary to make progress and establish good policy. However, there are certain guiding principles about which I cannot compromise. I will filter everything I consider first and foremost through the lens of my beliefs as a Christian and vote accordingly.
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.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate Tennessee House of Representatives District 71 |
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Footnotes
