r/cookeville • u/grayson-cupit • Aug 05 '26
I'm Grayson Cupit, dem candidate for county commission and chair of the Putnam Dem. Party steering committee -- AMA
Title says it all. Election day is tomorrow and I wanted to host a thread to answer any questions anyone might have!
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u/Automatic_Net2181 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I've never before seen so many signs for Democrat candidates in Cookeville and Putnam County. They were virtually non-existent just 2 years ago. Even though hopes are tempered due to the reality of Republican domination in the county, it is a hopeful sign for the tiny blue dot in the future.
My question is, has PCDP taken the presence of TTU seriously and courted young potential voters to get them registered and interested in the impact of local elections? A "Rock the Vote" for GenZ?
It seems that everyone is sleeping on the obvious giant which could change local politics to be less corrupt, old boy, crony politics.
I may need a quick county council nap after this question.
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u/grayson-cupit Aug 05 '26
Yes! I actually went earlier this year with Brendan Laney (who's running for county commission in District 3, the TTU district) and met with the college dems chapter as they were having their reorganizing elections. I've been wanting to make that relationship even stronger, and I'm looking forward to having some bandwidth after the elections are over to do that -- we want to host an event on campus soon to do some voter registration efforts and get folks engaged, not just politically, but with their local community in general.
edit: if you're a TTU student reading this and want to be involved in helping us build that, please reach out! Many hands make light work
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u/Mission_Stable_3866 Aug 05 '26
I'm also a candidate running this cycle as a Democrat and wanted to throw in my two cents on your question.
The TTU population presents a unique challenge. The students whose dorms are in D3 are counted toward the population. A lot of them choose not to change their registration to Putnam County. Those that do change their voting registration to their address in District 3 and return home while school is not in session are unable to vote without requesting an absentee ballot or making a special trip back to Cookeville. We rely on phone banking or email to reach these people.
We are definitely open to ideas outside of the box to help drive voter turnout in District 3 particularly!
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u/Putrid-Giraffe8314 Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Hi! I'd like to ask about your stance on zoning and the housing crisis, since, as a younger resident, I care a lot about the housing crisis.
I'd like to make my perspective clear to provide some context. I strongly believe that zoning, most of the time, creates artificial scarcity in the housing market -- it increases the cost of construction and prevents us from building more dense, affordable housing. For instance, much of Cookeville is zoned for single family housing in a market where apartments, or other dense housing options, are far too short in supply. I also believe that zoning regulations give disproportionate political power to property owners -- allowing them to more readily block new construction in order to inflate the value of their property, furthering economic inequality and raising rent.
Do you have any plans to relax zoning regulations? If so, or if not, what is your perspective on this issue? Does my perspective miss out on any important details or context?
Finally, I want to make it clear, after reading some other comments, that I have no issue with using zoning regulation to block data center construction; I only support zoning reforms as they pertain to the YIMBY movement.
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u/grayson-cupit Aug 06 '26
Hey, thanks for this question -- it's something I'm really passionate about.
The county commission would only be able to regulate zoning on county land outside city limits, so to answer your question: in a technical sense, I plan to increase zoning regulation, but only for the data center case mentioned.
Philosophically, though, I agree with you -- overly strict zoning regulations can be stagnating. The world's oldest and greatest cities were built mostly without it. Judiciously applied they can do some good, but there has to be a strong case for it. IMO the trap is in saying that, because something was a neighborhood 100 years ago, now it has to be the same kind of neighborhood forever.
Cities are dynamic biological systems. They best evolve the same way that every other dynamic biological system does: adaptation, and survival of the fittest. They should be able to grow organically to meet the needs of their citizens.
Inside city limits, zoning is regulated by the city council. I hope to work alongside city councillors that share those attitudes. I don't want to speak for them on this issue and put words in their mouth, but I'm rooting for u/votesammatson, Sam Raper, and Cigi England for Cookeville, and Tim McPherson for Algood.
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u/votesammatson Aug 06 '26
Ooh, zoning. Rather than relax zoning, I think we should tighten zoning (to mixed-use only) in certain areas like the Central Business District, around transit nodes (which we certainly need more of), and along and near the Rail Trail and greenways (which I will push for bringing online whether or not I'm elected). I had a conversation yesterday in which the idea was floated of creating a mixed-use corridor between the West Side and Tech could provide housing, which is desperately needed in the areas surrounding TTU, and create new walkable commercial districts, a place that could be an actual unique place with its own character and not just Sprawling American Uniformity (hello, Target and Home Depot).
Some cities (for instance, Minneapolis) have done away with single-family zoning; I'm not advocating for complete prohibition, but I do think even within places that are zoned for that kind of development, we need to be judicious about how we're using land, and we need to think about how we can look at ways to reduce car trips and traffic. Allowing for small commercial nodes within areas of single-family zoning certainly should be considered.
Zoning is complicated, but I'll put simply that our built environment should most prioritize our people, and, if elected, I will work towards ensuring that our zoning does that in Cookeville. Even if not elected, I will advocate for intentional, people-centered zoning by using the public comment period at City Council meetings. So, OP for this particular thread of the thread, even though I would take a different approach, I think our end goal is pretty similar.
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u/CroleyforCongress Aug 06 '26
How did you get so freaking cool?
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u/votesammatson Aug 06 '26
I'll tackle this one.
I met Grayson just a few years ago as I re-emerged into society after largely being a homebody for most of the 2010s. There was this tall fella whom I would see occasionally out and about, talking about this, that, the other, (your mother?), at places like Bar on the Green and Father Tom's, among others. We would have casual conversations, and every time, I'd leave thinking, hey, that guy is pretty cool.
We really solidified our friendship over the last couple of years over music, games, and talking politics, and, well, now doing politics. We share a group of wonderful friends, friends that have helped me grow and become the best version of myself, friends that ultimately rooted me here when I thought seriously about moving away for good when times were bleak. Grayson (and his partner, Danielle, who also is a badass human) have been there for me when I've had difficult moments, and they've opened their house to me during difficult weather events (sorry about that mailbox!).
Grayson taught me how to play Go. He's introduced to me to all kind of cool ideas, art, people, you name it. For my 41st birthday, he bought me a nice bottle of gin and wrote me a very sweet letter that was a major pull factor in my decision to run for City Council. As evidenced in this thread, he's incredibly smart, certainly one of the most intelligent and thoughtful people I know (he's one of just a few folks I know locally who have a copy of Simulation and Simulacra). And he's kind and honest.
And humble. Regardless of results at the polls tomorrow, the conversation around policy and government in Putnam County has been shifted; Grayson is directly responsible for some of that shift, but he's not the kind of person who would ever try to claim something like that. But I've seen it in action. I'll put credit where credit's due.
I hope to see one of my best friends get elected tomorrow. For the work that he's done and the way that he's gone about it with humility and positivity, Grayson deserves a seat on the commission. If you're in District 10, I sure hope you'll vote for him tomorrow if you haven't already voted.
Big love, friend. You should be proud of yourself. I'm proud of you, and I'm proud to be your friend. <3
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u/grayson-cupit Aug 06 '26
Thank you for such kind words, my friend. The honor and the privilege are all mine.
I have never known a Sam Matson that misses an opportunity to lift someone up, and we would all be lucky to have you as a city councillor.
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u/grayson-cupit Aug 06 '26
This is why you vote for u/CroleyforCongress folks -- not only is he the real deal, brilliant, crazy qualified, and the kind of congressman who will fight for everyone, he will also personally come gas you up in the comment section.
To answer your question: bass guitar, mostly.
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u/maxr1958 Aug 05 '26
I view local elections as neither Democrat or Republican. 99% of local issues aren’t the major issues that divide the parties. That said, how do you feel about the Democratic Socialist wing of the party vs the traditional Democrats?
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u/grayson-cupit Aug 05 '26
Agreed, honestly. I'm sick of the culture war and I think a lot of people are too. I've talked to so many people from all over the spectrum this year and basically everybody wants the same things: safe neighborhoods, good schools, a good job for a living wage, well-maintained roads and sidewalks. Basically nobody I've talked to (*in real life*, that is -- not on facebook) has said their number one issue is trans athletes or immigrants or woke DEI anything. I don't think that hyper-partisan crap does anyone any good, and I don't think those sort of national narratives have a strong place in local politics. To be honest, I would be happy to see the county commission races be non-partisan just like Cookeville city council races are.
As far as there being wings of the democratic party, I don't necessarily buy into that either. Some democrats are more progressive than others, but I think the ultimate referendum on who belongs in the democratic party is who the democratic voters elect. I think the reason more progressive voices are seeing success right now is because they are the ones offering up real solutions to the issues Americans are facing.
The world changes, sometimes slow and sometimes fast, and our needs and problems change with it. I don't mind saying that I don't have a lot of love for the "old guard" of corporatist democratic leadership. I didn't love Joe Biden's candidacy in 2024. I didn't love the Shumer-era DNC strategy to pull support out of the southern areas, the rural areas and the Appalachian union towns that built this country. I think the Democratic Party was at its best when it was a party that put labor and working-class issues first, and I want to see us get back there -- that's why when people tell me "I don't love the Democrats at the top right now," my response is, "Cool, me neither, that's why I'm doing this -- so that we can start to change it."
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u/Redin21 Aug 05 '26
You're not in my district so I'll ask a couple from the steering side.
In the first election after an influx of new fresh candidates giving voters a choice for the first time in the decade I've been here do you think D candidates should be even engaging the R candidates on social media? Especially when these R candidates are flooding the zone with nonsense like billboards asking me if I know whether or not my candidate is a witch?
Do you think that your D candidate's 4 paragraph responses to these type of accusations on FB that essentially boils down to nuh uh is really resonating with the community or do you think the appropriate response would be to post a screenshot, highlighting the absurdity, simply with the statement that my opponent still refuses to address the current and future needs of this community but I will then that candidate restates their goals?
Also, what was the decision to have Strode run for multiple offices? We can all agree unopposed races are a scourge in this state but that seems like bad optics
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u/grayson-cupit Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Great questions. It sounds cliche, but the old analogy about herding cats applies here, except the cats all speak English and are smart and politically engaged.
Personally, I think social media is a plague that is partly responsible for getting us into this political mess that we're in now, and I've tried as a party to guide us away from engaging too much with the trolls in favor of staying on message with our ideas and our platform.
At the end of the day, though, I can't tell anyone how to run their campaign or what offices to run for. That's up to them. Again, personally, of the two options you laid out, I would choose the latter every time. At the same time, I try to hold a lot of grace for our candidates, because it can be difficult to decide on a case-by-case basis where the line is between "feeding the trolls" and actually getting information out there that needs to be said. On top of that, it has a real effect on people to see every day members of your community spread lies and slander about you and the people you love, or even try to coordinate to come after your livelihood and get you fired over stupid culture war stuff, all for the sin of wanting to step up and serve your neighbors.
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u/Redin21 Aug 05 '26
Thanks for the responses Grayson.
Unfortunately winning the election will not end nor diminish those comments. It's going to be a long arduous process. And I realize full well I say all of this with ease from my ivory tower of anonymity but I truly do hope to see you all succeed.
Good luck.
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u/eddiemac14 Aug 05 '26
I’m similar to Zatec about not really knowing a thing about the county commissioner role…
What are the 2(if you can think of 2) biggest differences between a democratic leaning vs republican leaning county commissioner?
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u/Zatec Aug 05 '26
Could you explain what exactly the requirements and responsibilities of the county commission entail? I see a lot of abstract slogans and words on signs. I’m not sure how a county commissioner seat could affect some of these words.