No Car. No Computer. No Quit.
Mike Cortese came to Nashville with nothing and built a life. This year, Tennessee politicians redrew the map to stop campaigns like his. It did not work.
JUN 13READ IN APP
In 2001, Mike Cortese showed up in Nashville with no car, no computer, and no connections.
He started at the bottom of the music business and worked his way up. He ended up working on Grammy-nominated albums and sold-out world tours. He was never the name on the marquee. He was the guy who made the show work.
He taught at Belmont University. He built the life nobody handed him.
He and his wife both grew up around abuse and addiction. They built a steady, loving home anyway. Two boys. One hometown.
That is the thing to know about him. He builds.
He Lost. Then He Came Back.
In 2019, Cortese ran for Nashville’s Metro Council. He lost.
Most people stop there. He ran again in 2023. He won.
On the council, he did what he has always done: the work behind the curtain that makes everything run. He went after illegal street racing. He fought break-ins. He got money for safer streets. No headlines. Just a hometown, getting a little better.
Then he decided to run for Congress, to do the same thing for all of Tennessee.
So They Redrew the Map
This year, the politicians who run Tennessee did something rare. In the middle of the cycle, they threw out the congressional map and drew a new one to protect their own power.
The new lines cut Nashville and Memphis into pieces. And they moved the lines right out from under his campaign.
They were betting he would quit.
Instead, he is running in the new district. His answer to the men who drew the lines was simple: “you can’t gerrymander your way past voters.”
And Tennessee is not alone. Politicians in state after state are now redrawing maps in the middle of the cycle to pick their own voters. They are betting that nobody fights back in places like this. This race is where that bet gets called.
The map itself is in trouble too. Two days ago, the NAACP asked a federal court to block it. The people who drew those lines are now the ones playing defense.
Donate $25: be a Person No Map Can Erase
What a Donation Does Here
Politicians can move lines. They cannot move people.
Cortese has been the underdog his whole life. No car. No computer. No famous name. Every single time, he closed the gap the same way: people showed up for him.
His first fundraising report since they redrew the map closes June 30. Every dollar in it says the same thing to the men who drew those lines: it did not work.
The primary is August 6. The report is June 30. He has done the hard part his whole life. This part is ours.
Donate Today: Make June 30 Loud
✦ They drew new lines to make him quit. He does not know how.
→ Click to Donate to Mike Cortese!
He came to Nashville with nothing and built everything. Send him to Washington to build what comes next.
Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!
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