The U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade inspired Victoria Broderick, the Democratic who unofficial results show defeated U.S. Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04) on Tuesday, she told Axios Nashville on Thursday.
According to the outlet, Broderick said her political career “began at the hyper-local level,” in Lincoln County, where she leveraged her social media personality as “your Friendly Neighborhood Liberal on TikTok” to become the Democratic Party chair.
Broderick discussed her social media persona during her appearance on a NewsChannel 5 podcast, explaining it began after Roe was overturned.
“I moved into the tech industry about five years ago and I’ve been doing promoting and doing tech support for SaaS-based products, and what I did was getting involved in the local county parties,” Broderick stated. “When I realized there wasn’t enough education around it, I ended up creating a social media account called the Friendly Neighborhood Liberal and starting doing political education after Roe was overturned.”
Her social media account was not enough to stop a 43-point landslide defeat to DesJarlais in 2024, but Broderick said she immediately began campaigning for the 2026 midterms. This year, amid the Democrat victories across the nation, and in a newly-redrawn district, Broderick is currently projected by the Tennessee Secretary of State to win the election by fewer than 500 votes.
On the campaign trail, Nashville Banner reported that Broderick slammed DesJarlais for voting for the Big Beautiful Bill passed by Congress under President Donald Trump, which cut entitlement spending and imposed work requirements for others.
She also blamed the conflict in Iran, which she noted had the support of DesJarlais, for high diesel and gasoline prices in Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District.
Broderick also dismissed an immigration issue as a “nonissue,” according to the outlet, which reported that Broderick said Republicans “hyper-focused” on transgender medical care for minors “to avoid talking about the things that need to be talked about.”
Broderick also described receiving support from the Democratic National Committee, and Davidson County Democratic Party chair Dakota Galban told Axios that she “was not on anyone’s radar with this race.”
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Victoria Broderick” is by Victoria Broderick.
