Tennessee State House candidate Allie Phillips uploaded a video to TikTok where she crudely joked and gestured with a root she called a “ground penis” found in her back yard.
Phillips uploaded the video to her account on TikTok, the controversial video sharing platform tied to China, in May 2023.
“My husband and I are out here trying to level out our back yard since we are redoing it,” said Phillips at the start of the video.
With what appeared to be a phallus-shaped root in her hands, she said, “I was just raking over here and came across this. I think the earth’s trying to tell me something. ”
Holding it against her pelvis in a crude manner, Phillips added, “I feel like it’s a pretty accurate size.” Standing next to her husband, the Democrat quipped, “I think the earth is telling me I should call him.”
Phillips continued to hold and joke with the root as she concluded the video with a request for gardening advice.
“So if anybody wants my ground penis let me know, I’ll ship it to you or whatever you want, if you want it,” said Phillips. “If not it’s just going to go in the dirt pile. But yeah, I got a ground d***, it’s pretty cool.”
@.allie.phillips The things you find in nature😂 #nature #landscape #landscapingraking #yardwork #ishouldcallhim
Phillips’ video was posted to TikTok just under five months before she started her political campaign, which she stated in October 2023 she was motivated to launch after she lost a pregnancy that year, when WKRN reported she said, “Tennessee’s law did not give me the option of healthcare that I needed here, so I had to fly out of state – to New York.”
The outlet noted that Phillips “started posting on TikTok at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,” and reported her social media audience was largely supportive when she traveled to New York to “terminate her pregnancy.” Phillips has more than 380,000 followers on TikTok at press time.
Phillips’ social media celebrity appeared to help prompt a National Public Radio article about her campaign in February of 2024, when the taxpayer-funded outlet revealed Phillips was recruited into Democratic politics by Montgomery County Democratic Party director Charles Uffelman, who saw Phillips’ videos.
According to NPR, “Uffelman recruited Phillips just to get involved with the Democratic Party. Eventually, he asked her to run for a Tennessee House seat in District 75.”
Phillips will seek to replace State Representative Jeff Burkhart (R-Clarksville) on Election Day in November.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Allie Phillips” by Allie Phillips.
