To My Fellow Tennesseans:

My first month as a candidate for Governor has taught me many things.

The people of Tennessee are looking for strong and dynamic leadership from someone with a vision for the future.

They believe education is the key to virtually every opportunity that we desire for our children and that education is a life-long process.

They want a chief executive that will not raise their taxes, balance the budget with equity, plan for the future, and will not compromise on the constitutional issues of life, marriage, and guns.

Crime must be addressed in big cities like Memphis while creating jobs is the key issue in small towns like Rutledge. While we are all Tennesseans, there is a clear distinction between the people and the challenges of West, Middle, and East Tennessee.

So, I continue to listen and learn so that I can help and lead. My heart and my life is Tennessee. Our small businesses and middle- class families need a Governor that connects with them and will work for them because he is one of them.

Thank you for teaching me more about the state that I love so much. I look forward to the rest of the lesson.

It’s been two full weeks since Senator Frist called to say he would not run for Governor. Short of all the other candidates dropping out to endorse me, I have enjoyed the best two weeks imaginable working non-stop to enter the race with passion, determination, love of Tennessee in my heart and a smile on my face. ZachWamp.com says it all!

The campaign before us will be long and difficult, but I am running for the right reasons and have the support of faithful conservatives and loyal Republicans from Memphis to Mountain City.

In Nashville we have seen the remnant of the “good ol’ boy” system rear its head even in defeat as the Republican caucus was denied their choice of Speaker Jason Mumpower.

This should not surprise us, instead, it should motivate us to stand together and fight even harder for the things we believe and the cause of good government.

With the antics of the General Assembly from the very first day, the race for 2010 begins in earnest. Let’s be the team that stands on principle, unites for a cause larger than ourselves and grows our majority in numbers as we lead Tennessee to an even brighter future.

I had a great first day in middle and west Tennessee as a candidate on Monday. We began the day having breakfast in Jackson with a couple dozen leaders. Rurals around Jackson need jobs and want our party to focus on middle class Tennesseans and small business.

To sum up the rest: Guns are essential. No income tax. Make government smaller!
These are my kind of people.

Throughout the day I told them all I have to work three times as hard for them because I am from East Tennessee.

Memphis is special. In the days of Crump and McKellar, they had it all and now they need leadership in Nashville. Crime and children’s health must improve! However, education is the most important issue to many Memphians.

We have our work cut out for us, but I believe we can do better in all of these areas.

All day I was encouraged to see and hear that party leaders in middle and west Tennessee are fired up about my campaign.

Thanks for visiting my site, spread the word about our campaign to change Tennessee’s future and I hope to see you soon.

A Chattanooga native, Zach spent twelve years as a small businessman and commercial real estate broker before being elected to Congress. He and his wife, Kim, have a son, Weston, and a daughter, Coty, in college at the University of Tennessee.