John Gillespie
John Gillespie (Republican Party) is a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing District 97. He assumed office on November 3, 2020. His current term ends on November 5, 2024.
Gillespie (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the Tennessee House of Representatives to represent District 97. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024. He advanced from the Republican primary on August 1, 2024.
Biography
John Gillespie was born in Memphis, Tennessee.[1] Gillespie earned a B.A. in political science from High Point University.[1][2] His career experience includes working as a financial service representative with First Tennessee Bank and a grant coordinator with Trezevant Episcopal Home.[1]
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Gillespie was assigned to the following committees:
2021-2022
Gillespie was assigned to the following committees:
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97
Incumbent John Gillespie and Jesse Huseth are running in the general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | ||
 | John Gillespie (R) | |
 | Jesse Huseth (D) | |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97
Jesse Huseth advanced from the Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 on August 1, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jesse Huseth | 100.0 | 2,234 |
| Total votes: 2,234 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97
Incumbent John Gillespie defeated Christina Oppenhuizen in the Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 on August 1, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John Gillespie | 95.4 | 4,910 |
| Christina Oppenhuizen | 4.6 | 236 | |
| Total votes: 5,146 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
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2022
See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97
Incumbent John Gillespie defeated Toniko Harris in the general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John Gillespie (R) | 56.7 | 12,083 |
| Toniko Harris (D) | 43.3 | 9,219 | |
| Total votes: 21,302 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97
Toniko Harris defeated Houston Wolf in the Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 on August 4, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Toniko Harris | 50.2 | 2,855 |
 | Houston Wolf | 49.8 | 2,835 | |
| Total votes: 5,690 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97
Incumbent John Gillespie advanced from the Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 on August 4, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John Gillespie | 100.0 | 7,897 |
| Total votes: 7,897 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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2020
See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97
John Gillespie defeated Gabby Salinas in the general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John Gillespie (R) | 50.8 | 14,712 |
 | Gabby Salinas (D) | 49.2 | 14,246 | |
| Total votes: 28,958 | |||
| = 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 97
Gabby Salinas defeated Ruby Powell-Dennis, Allan Creasy, and Clifford Stockton III in the Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 on August 6, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Gabby Salinas | 51.3 | 2,460 |
 | Ruby Powell-Dennis | 25.9 | 1,241 | |
 | Allan Creasy | 13.9 | 665 | |
 | Clifford Stockton III | 9.0 | 432 | |
| Total votes: 4,798 | |||
| = 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 97
John Gillespie defeated Brandon Weise in the Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 on August 6, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John Gillespie | 78.2 | 3,628 |
| Brandon Weise | 21.8 | 1,009 | |
| Total votes: 4,637 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Gillespie's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
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2022
John Gillespie did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
John Gillespie completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gillespie's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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John Gillespie is a native Memphian..
His professional career began in the banking business at First Tennessee. John learned the financial business from the ground up. He started as a Financial Service Representative opening new accounts and serving as the face of the bank. He later moved to Evolve Bank and Trust where he worked in the mortgage division. John reviewed home loans to ensure compliance before families closed on their new home.
John presently serves as Grant Coordinator at Trezevant Episcopal Home. He writes and researches grants, plans events, and solicits major gifts at Trezevant.
John is active in political campaigns and service organizations in our community. He served as Assistant Campaign Manager for former Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell's successful 2010 campaign. John is a member of the Phoenix Club of Memphis where he's helped raised funds for the Boys and Girls Club.
- Education
- Criminal Justice Reform (Sentencing Guidelines)
- Economic Development for Shelby County
Keeping people safe from crime should be the top priority of any government. I've had the pleasure of riding along with law enforcement officers on multiple occasions. These dedicated men and women perform a dangerous job and a critical role in keeping us safe. They deserve our support. As your State Representative, I will proudly have the back of our brave men and women in law enforcement.
I want the state to do more to help us combat the number one challenge in Memphis and Shelby County-violent crime. This means providing our community with the necessary resources for sufficient prosecutors and law enforcement officers. This also means ensuring we teach marketable skills to those inmates who can be rehabilitated so, when they are released from prison, they can obtain a good job and become responsible citizens. Reducing recidivism saves taxpayer dollars and makes our community safer.
COVID-19 ended the longest economic expansion in American history. Fortunately, many of the fundamentals of our economy remain strong-particularly, here in Tennessee. As a result, I believe we are well positioned for a strong recovery.
Tennessee is ranked as the most fiscally stable state in the country. Our state has the least debt of any state. When we do borrow money, we are able to borrow at a very low interest rate due to our excellent AAA bond rating.
I'll work to create jobs and rebuild our economy by supporting conservative fiscal policies that keep Tennessee on the ri
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.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
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Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Tennessee scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 10 to April 21.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 11 to April 28.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 5.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Tennessee State Legislature was in session from January 14 to June 19.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 |
Officeholder Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jim Coley (R) |
Tennessee House of Representatives District 97 2020-Present |
Succeeded by - |
