Tennessee House Majority Whip Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville), who is running to represent Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District, said the first bill he would introduce if elected to Congress is one making Tennessee’s law banning “gender-affirming care” for minors a national law.
Garrett, who was elected to the Tennessee House in 2018 and has run for reelection uncontested by a Republican since, officially launched his congressional candidacy on Tuesday.
Last month in a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Tennessee law, SB 1, forbidding healthcare providers from performing or administering to underage children “gender-affirming” medical procedures or treatments for the purpose of enabling the child to identify with the opposite gender.
Garrett, who co-sponsored the bill in the State Legislature, said if he’s elected to Congress, he would introduce a bill to make Tennessee’s SB 1 the law of the land.
“If I’m lucky enough to be the congressman of the sixth district, I want that to be my first piece of legislation to protect all kids throughout the nation. That should be a bipartisan effort. That should be something that should be on the forefront of what Tennessee led in order to achieve that success, to protect minors in this state. We should do that at the federal level,” Garrett explained on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“I’m going to be that fighter in Congress to make sure that we protect our children,” he added.
Garrett said his teamwork, displayed by working with the leaders of the Tennessee House of Representatives and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti to draft SB 1, would carry on if he were elected to Congress, specifically to pass President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“You will see no difference if the 6th district decides to send me to Congress on the collateral effort to make sure we push what is important to Trump, important to his agenda, and make sure we protect children,” Garrett said.
Noting how 19 counties make up the 6th Congressional District, Garrett said he looks forward to hitting the campaign trail and speaking with residents across all counties and ensuring voters he will fight in D.C. for their values and that his votes in Congress will work to benefit the district.
“I look forward to this campaign trail and meeting as many people from all 19 counties that I can. I want to listen. I want to be that person that says, look, when you tell me something and I look you in the eye and I tell you that I’m going to do something, they’re going to know Johnny Garrett as a conservative is going to do it,” Garrett said.
“I want to make sure they know that I’m going to be the conservative candidate, the conservative fighter for them and their voice in D.C. to make sure that the values, the ideas, the agenda that President Trump does is going to be good for Tennessee, as he’s already proved,” he added.
Garrett stressed, however, that while he may be a conservative, he “works for the people,” meaning he is committed to being “the congressman for all, by and large.”
“When I’m elected to Congress for the 6th District, what I plan to do is to make sure they feel like their voice is being heard by their congressmen,” he said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
