Community organizer Luis Mata announced his candidacy on Wednesday for the Tennessee House of Representatives in District 49, which includes Smyrna and La Vergne in Rutherford County.
Mata is seeking the Democratic nomination in the hopes of challenging incumbent Rep. Mike Sparks, R-Smyrna, who has held the seat since 2010. If elected, Mata would become Tennessee’s youngest lawmaker, and the first Latino elected to state office.
“This moment demands bold candidates who are willing to fight for the change we deserve,” Mata said in a statement. “It is my firm belief that those closest to the issues should be closest to the solutions.”
According to his campaign website, Mata will work to advocate for immigrants and make Tennessee a welcoming place for all, invest more in public schools, advocate for policies to prevent gun violence, repeal the state’s abortion ban, and expand Medicaid.
Mata most recently served as policy coordinator at the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, where he worked to amplify immigrant voices and protect refugee rights at all levels of government. With TIRRC, he successfully advocated for passage of a new bipartisan workplace expansion law to remove barriers to specialty and trade licenses for about 10,000 immigrants in Tennessee, including DACA recipients and TPS holders.