Mike Croley

Democratic Candidate

Why I’m Running

I’m running because working families in Tennessee’s 6th District are getting steamrolled while billionaires buy policies behind closed doors, all while our schools are underfunded, our healthcare system is broken, and our rights are being auctioned off one vote at a time.

I’m not a career politician. I’m not backed by corporate donors or political machines. I’m running this campaign the only way I know how: with transparency, honesty, and a promise to show up for the little guy.

We need representation that listens, not lectures. That serves, not sells out. I’m not running to represent one side of the aisle. I’m running to represent every person in this district who’s been ignored, written off, or told to wait their turn.

My Story

I grew up in Illinois and Kentucky, enlisting in the Navy after graduating from Ohio County High School in Hartford, KY. While in boot camp, I was selected for meritorious advancement, and upon completion I served as an Electronics Technician on the east coast. While serving, I was awarded an NROTC scholarship, which made it possible for me to earn a degree in civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University. I was commissioned by the Navy upon graduation in 2005.

I fell in love with Tennessee while at Vanderbilt, so after completing my service in the Navy, I returned to the state, becoming an efficiency engineer with the TVA EnergyRight program. My job was to help people and businesses lower their utility bills by using energy more efficiently. This was the first chapter in my career in public service

I then joined the Tennessee State Park Rangers, attending the Tennessee Law Enforcement Academy in 2016. I saw up close and personal how Tennessee’s parks give people a place to breathe deeply, reflect and find peace. As a Ranger, I saw folks from all walks of life find something they need in the woods and fields of Tennessee. Tennessee’s state parks are one of the greatest triumphs of legislative effort to improve our quality of life.

My wife, Bethany, and I have been married since 2009, and we are raising three young kids here at home. She works in our local school system, which keeps us closely connected to the challenges facing students and educators. I also have an adult son, Austin, who lives in the district.

From 2015 to 2021, while serving as a Tennessee State Park Ranger, I was raising our family and earning my master’s degree in public safety from Tennessee Tech in Cookeville.This isn’t abstract for me. The choices made in Washington shape my family’s
future, just like they shape yours. I’m running to make sure working families in Tennessee’s 6th District have someone who understands those pressures and fights for them.

After attending TTU, I was awarded a Presidential Management Fellowship, which allowed me to continue working in public service. This program saw me working in the U.S. Departments of State and Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Through my years in public service, as a park ranger, a federal employee, and a husband to a public school worker, I’ve seen both the best and the worst of how government works. I know it can be more efficient, more accountable, and more responsive to the people it serves.

Our government should not exist to benefit a powerful few. It should exist to serve families like mine and yours. That belief, shaped by my own story and my roots here in Tennessee’s 6th District, is why I’m running for Congress.

The AAA Blueprint

What is the AAA Blueprint?

Normally, a page like this is where a candidate tells you every policy and piece of legislation they’re going to pass. My campaign is different: I don’t want to sit people down and dictate their options, I want Tennesseans to know that I hear what they’re telling me.

The AAA Blueprint (Triple-A) is a list of concerns I keep hearing from Tennesseans, no matter where I am, no matter who I’m talking to. It’s simple on its surface and complex under the hood – the perfect job for an engineer.

If you want to dive deeper into the issues and hear what my stances are policy to policy, check out my blog under the ‘Latest News’ section of my website. While you’re at it, give me a follow on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with the campaign. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Go anywhere in America today and ask someone what’s on their mind and you’ll hear about prices. Groceries are too high, gasoline is too expensive, and healthcare has been unaffordable for years – and it’s getting worse. Rural Americans in places like the Sixth District have to choose between putting food on the table or medicine in the cabinet.

I’ve discovered over the course of this campaign just how bad things have gotten for Tennesseans. I’ve heard from both college students how they’re frightened to graduate because there’s no chance they can afford to rent an apartment, and from elderly folks who have to ration food so they can be able to visit the doctor and pay for what the doctor prescribes.

I’ve heard from consumers that have had to stop shopping at their small town grocery stores because the big chains cut a slightly better deal. I’ve heard from parents who’ve had to dig into their savings because cuts to SNAP and WIC threaten to leave their families hungry.

I’ve heard from importers, wholesalers, and small business owners just how much damage tariffs have done to their businesses. I’ve heard from franchise owners and construction workers how much they have to tighten their belts when the threat of an ICE raid means their staff are too afraid to come into work. I’ve heard from investors and line workers how careers are upended because changes in leadership and funding stop the on-time opening of new factories.

So what do the people tell me they want to happen to lower prices again?

  • Get rid of Trump’s reckless tariffs. 
  • Overturn the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ and give that money back to programs that help people get what they need. 
  • Tax the rich fairly and close tax loopholes.
    • “The Tax Policy Center (TPC) has estimated that the WNI wealth tax could raise $6.8 trillion in additional net revenue over the next decade.” – Economic Policy Institute 
  • Build more quality, affordable housing.
  • Cap private equity firm holdings.
  • Invest in American industry and American trades.
  • Strengthen labor standards and make unionization easier

Whoever you are, at some point in your life, you’ve needed help. Mr. Rogers told us to look for the helpers, and people are trying hard to find them. The simple fact is that the opportunities and programs that help people get by and live well aren’t coming – even worse, they’re disappearing.

Accessibility is a personal issue for me: In early 2025, I was working for NOAA as a Presidential Management Fellow. I worked hard to earn that opportunity, and I was proud to get to do work that I loved. That all changed with Elon Musk and DOGE. A few weeks after DOGE began cutting programs, my department received word that there would be major downsizing and that we should consider work elsewhere. I was distraught. This was my livelihood, that I’d worked hard to earn and loved doing. I wasn’t going to sit by and let the world’s richest man take food from my family’s bellies.

I did what we’re told to do as citizens in a democracy. I called my representative, John Rose, at each of his offices multiple times a day for weeks, begging him to do something to stop me from losing my job. Eventually, after I had already lost my job, I got a copy-and-paste response email that said nothing and did even less. At the end of that email, someone had added a blurb about all the things John Rose has done for veterans. As a veteran, who John Rose did nothing to help when I was being put out of my career, I was insulted. That’s when I decided to take action.

I wish I could say that my story is unique and my circumstances are strange, but I can’t. If I listed the names of people I personally know who lost qualified positions because of this administration, I’d need a second website. I’ve heard from so many people like me, who needed help from their government and begged and pleaded for assistance, and were ignored.

What do people want to be done to make their government and lives more accessible?

  • Make voting more accessible
  • Make accessing healthcare more accessible for veterans
  • Expand the House of Representatives and make the democratic process more democratic
  • Restrict private insurance companies ability to deny claims
  • Increase access to women’s reproductive healthcare

Elect representatives who show up for all the people they represent

We hear a lot about accountability these days. The single most consistent thing I hear from people is that they feel like their government is failing them. Usually, they feel like their representatives aren’t even trying to actually represent or help them. The only thing everyone does seem to think their representatives actually prioritize is making money. I hear from people that it’s one big club and we ain’t in it, so why bother caring?

I hear from people that federal agents are being given free reign to assault, harass, and kill whomever they like. I hear from independents who enthusiastically voted for closed borders, but also think America isn’t a place where the government gets to execute its citizens in the street. I’ve been told by veterans that the Democrats aren’t doing enough to stop ICE’s rampage.

I’ve heard from abuse victims how the exact same kinds of people who hurt them and got away with it are the people this administration is protecting from being brought to justice. I’ve heard their disgust when the Attorney General screams about the stock market instead of acknowledging survivors. I’ve heard from you, who is being hurt and wants to stop the people who hurt you.

So what do people tell me they want to do to hold people in power accountable?

  • Release all of the unredacted Epstein Files in full compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act
  • Dramatically scale back funding for DHS and ICE to make sure reforms can’t be sidestepped
  • Overhaul campaign finance laws to ban Congressmen from trading stocks and becoming lobbyists
  • Overturn the disastrous Citizens United v. FEC decision
  • Enact term limits for members of Congress
  • Ensure corporations are engaging the market in full faith and break up any illegal monopolies like Google and Apple
  • Investigate healthcare companies to ensure patient care is prioritized over profit

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