By J. Holly McCall | Editor-in-Chief
Good morning, Lookout readers:
Hopefully you are starting Monday refreshed after a weekend of celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
We start the week by taking a look at the Democratic primary for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Matt Van Epps, who was elected in a December special election after former U.S. Rep. Mark Green resigned mid-term, faces no Republican primary opposition.
As Senior Reporter Sam Stockard reports, four Democrats seek the nomination to go up against Van Epps in November, but for two candidates, it’s not their first rodeo: State Rep. Vincent Dixie and Nashville businessman Darden Copeland ran in the 2025 special election in a stacked Democratic primary that saw the four candidates in that race separated by less than five percentage points. But, the district was redrawn in May, so candidates face a changed landscape.
In other news:
Rest in peace. Former State Sen. Jim Tracy of Shelbyville died Friday of cancer, and tributes poured in from across the state. Tracy, who was elected in 2005, resigned from the Senate in 2017 to serve as Tennessee State Director of the USDA Rural Development program in the first Trump administration.
Voting registration deadline tomorrow. The deadline to register to vote in the August 6 primary election for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House and state and local Raes is Tuesday, July 7.
THE LOOKOUT’S TOP STORY
Rep. Vincent Dixie and Darden Copeland, both of Nashville, are key candidates in the Democratic primary for the 7th Congressional District. (Photos: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
by Sam Stockard
In a race to capture the newly-drawn 7th Congressional District seat in Tennessee, state Rep. Vincent Dixie and businessman Darden Copeland are taking slightly different strategies in the Democratic primary with the ultimate goal of unseating the Republican incumbent.
NEWS AND NOTES
Medicaid again to cover non-abortion care at Planned Parenthood as GOP ban ends | Jennifer Shutt, States Newsroom
America’s 250th birthday celebrated, despite extreme heat, canceled events | Ashley Murray, States Newsroom
FEATURED IN THE LOOKOUT
A photo by Jared Kreiss of bears in the Smokies bears the Tennessee ‘Yeah, It’s Real’ seal. (Photo: Tennessee Department of Tourist Development)
by Anne Braly
It’s easy to be fooled by AI photos, so in an effort to help Tennessee travelers verify where online photos were taken, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development has launched its new “It’s Real” campaign, a program that promises the photos you see on its website are not AI-generated.
COMMENTARY
Hundreds gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, May 15, 2025, to protest the Trump administration’s effort to strip birthright citizenship from the Constitution. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
by Larry D. Woods
In Trump v. Barbara, the Supreme Court ruled five to four to uphold a portion of the 14th Amendment on birthright citizenship. The one-vote margin is a shameful and embarrassing reflection of the intellectual failures of four of the justices and a clear example why many American citizens hold the Court in such low repute.
ICYMI
COMMENTARY
Whose America is it? | Ren Brabenec
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