CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Republican Congressman Mark Green easily defeated Democratic challenger Kiran Sreepada on Tuesday.
“Thank you all for being here with me. I love y’all,” he said, after arriving to speak to supporters during a watch party at Ruby Cora in Adams.
“I’m pretty excited. I improved on my margin from last year or two years ago. That’s very encouraging. That’s the kind of thing that can make a politician feel good, when you can cross over voters,” Green told Clarksville Now.
Green also said one of the first tasks he wants to complete is getting a stimulus passed.
“We have three weeks to get a budget passed. That’s going to be the first thing,” Green said regarding his agenda as he goes back to work in D.C.
Green, 55, of Clarksville, is a former healthcare CEO, Army special operations flight surgeon, and emergency room physician. He previously served as state Senator for District 22.
Green has a doctorate in medicine from Wright State University, an MC in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Business Management from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Sreepada isn’t finished
Sreepada said he plans to “keep fighting for the causes I believe in.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve failed in my life,” he told Clarksville Now.
He encouraged supporters and members of his campaign to keep working for important causes.
“It’s not just people in office that are doing important work, it’s everyone,” Sreepada said.
“There’s a number of interns and young people we have working for us and they say, ‘I feel so down.’ You shouldn’t … If you’re fighting for what’s right, you’ll prevail.”
Sreepada, 39, of College Grove in Williamson County, is a former civil servant at the Government Accountability Office and former small-business owner. He is pursuing a doctoral degree in Public Policy: International Security and Economic Policy at the University of Maryland.
District 7 stretches from Clarksville to Franklin to Columbia on the east and covers much of middle-west Tennessee down to the Alabama and Mississippi state lines.
MORE: To read about the candidates and where they stand on the issues, see the Clarksville Now elections page.
Chris Smith and Angela Peterson contributed to this report.