Young Courage In County Politics

A burst of courage can change a county. We sit down with Lakie Derrick, a 23-year-old Sullivan County Commission candidate who connects every stance to a biblical worldview, and trace how a sixth-grade conviction grew into campus leadership, a winning ground game, and a clear plan for transparent local government. From starting a Turning Point USA chapter at ETSU during COVID to hosting high-heat events and handling protests with poise, Lakie shows how students can defend free speech, shape culture, and move from ideas to impact.

We walk through the data behind a quiet Gen Z realignment—young adults returning to church, rediscovering family, and questioning bloated systems that make homeownership feel out of reach. Lakie shares lessons from knocking 5,000+ doors on a state senate race that unseated an eighteen-year incumbent, serving in a congressional district office, and now mentoring high school chapters across East Tennessee. The through-line is practical: when neighbors meet face to face, trust forms; when budgets are clear and limited, families breathe; when leaders hold to the constitution, policy gets simpler and fairer.

You’ll hear a sharp test for every local vote—Is this the government’s job?—and a roadmap for aligning county spending with core responsibilities. We dig into tax transparency, nonprofit funding, and why strong homes fuel strong communities. Lakie’s training at Patriot Academy adds structure to that vision, turning convictions into legislative craft. If you care about Northeast Tennessee, school culture, free speech, and the path to attainable homeownership, this conversation offers both hope and a plan rooted in faith, family, and the future of freedom.

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To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.jonathanandsteve.com. 

Transcript

Welcome To Benchmark Happenings

SPEAKER_00 0:02

This is Benchmark Happening. Brought to you by Jonathan and Steve from Benchmark Homeland. Northeast Tennessee. Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, the Tri-Cities, one of the most beautiful places in the country to live. Tons of great things to do and awesome local businesses. And on this show, you'll find out why people are dying to move to Northeast Tennessee. And on the way, we'll have discussions about mortgages. And we'll interview people in the real estate industry. It's what we do. This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Benchmark Home Loans. And now your host, Christine Reed.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

Well, welcome back, everybody, to another episode of Benchmark Happenings. And we are stepping outside the box today. And we always have a star of the show. And so today I'm just so thrilled to have Lakey Derrick with us. So Lakey, thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Thank you so much for having me. I think this is stepping out of what I usually do as well, but I'm very excited to be here.

Faith As A Political Foundation

SPEAKER_03 1:11

Yes. And you know, we were just having a conversation, and man, do we have a lot to talk about? We do. And and Lakey, what I'm so excited about is um your your enthusiasm and your drive and just all the things that you've accomplished at such a young age. And I think you truly are an entrepreneurial spirit. Um you kind of remind me of one of my favorite um guests we we have on here quite frequently, Austin Ramsey, who I love, Austin. Um but um so Lakey Derrick, um, do you mind if I say how old you are? Yeah, go ahead. 23-year-old, beautiful, beautiful uh lady and extremely mature and wise beyond your years. Um Thank you. So Lakey, I want you to tell us a little bit about yourself because one of the things that you've done, and I'm I commend you for it, and I'm so thankful that you are one of the brave, the bold, the truly conservatives with a biblical worldview who has put her hat in the ring to run as representative for District 10 in Sullivan County.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Yes, as a commissioner. And I think going to the most important thing about myself is I'm a born-again believer. I love that you said a biblical worldview because that is what I'm wanting to bring in. I think everything that I believe politically is because of my biblical views. And what I've done is I've taken that view from the time I was in sixth grade, really, is whenever I decided I'm gonna get into politics because I saw the first round of Black Lives Matter that I could remember. Um, I had that perspective at school that it's not okay to loot and riot stores. I was labeled a racist as a sixth grader.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

I went home that night and I prayed to God and I was like, God, why are they calling me racist? And he pretty much laid it out right then and there. You're gonna be continuing to speak truth. People are going to continue to call you names, but you're gonna do it for me and it's all gonna work out. And now I'm where I am today.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

So gut chills.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Well, I I really do. I everything that I've done, everything that I I have accomplished and I will accomplish will be because of God and not because of me. And whenever I just think about going into ETSU, where I was able to start, uh co-found with my best friend, the Turning Point USA chapter there. We started in the middle of COVID. The number one political club on campus was Young Democratic Socialists of America.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

They do exist in East Tennessee.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

I tell you, social, I'm telling you, people do not realize how close we are to being a blue state.

Launching Turning Point At ETSU

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Oh, absolutely. And that's the goal. They want to flood these big cities with as many liberals as they can, pump those in to where they overtake uh the the vote in Tennessee, of course. Um, so whenever I look at our the the town that I love, I love Johnson City. I am a lifelong Sullivan County resident, but I do love Johnson City coming in here. And um I loved going to ETSU, but I saw what our culture was. And even though it was in the middle of COVID, we were all so disjointed, but I was like, there has to be something that can unite us as college students to biblical truth, to conservative principles, and we are going to change the culture of our campus. And I believe we really did that. We ended up starting, and it's like everyone was hungry for this. We utilized social media. We had events despite it being COVID. Um, and then we ended up having some of our biggest events. We watched What is a Woman? That was supposed to be an easy event, and it ended up getting so much hate, uh, not just at our ETSU community, but in the local papers, that that event ended up being like a 300-person event coming to watch What is a Woman with 75 protesters.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

And that was I I love that documentary because Matthew Walsh um did that on What is a Woman. And if you've not watched that, you you need to watch that. So so tell our audience, Lakey, I'm very familiar with Turning Point, um, Charlie Kirk, and uh so tell tell tell us what turning point is, and and I want people to understand the significance of you starting this at ETSU.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

So as an organization, Turning Point is a 501c3 nonprofit. So that means they're nonpartisan. But what they're doing is they are identifying student leaders, educating them on their conservative values, and then equipping them to go out onto their college campuses or high school campuses and actually spread Christian conservative worldviews. Not only do they just equip you by teaching you different ways to discuss your beliefs and have these events, they're providing you with PowerPoints, they're providing you with all of your resources. It's 100% donor-funded as a nonprofit. And it's a beautiful picture of free market capitalism because we see if you as a private citizen are able to donate your money to wherever you want it to go, that money can actually be used for good versus if the government comes in and says, you have to give money to this or you have to do this.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

So I absolutely love Turning Points Mission because the work that we're doing right now, where we are firming foundations, where we are teaching kids and young adults about American exceptionalism, about entrepreneurial spirit, about what makes America great, and that starts with God and liberty. Whenever we see that, we're training that up. 10 years from now, whenever, because this does go into high school, 10 years, whenever that we have kids who are now starting families, starting businesses, running for office and being leaders in their workforce, voting, we're gonna be a completely different nation.

Campus Pushback And Big Events

SPEAKER_03 6:50

I I believe that Lakey, and I know that uh Charlie Kirk had such a heart and a passion for he called that generation the Lost Boys because we've just seen um so much to destroy uh being a man and being male in this society from feminism and a lot of woke uh socialist agendas. And so I I've just always love what he does and and I love we love turning point and Steve and I actually hosted a um with with uh Danielle, we actually hosted a couple of years ago a pastor's conference through Turning Point to help educate local pastors um you know how important it is to get to church. So um, so how many uh and you've graduated since graduated from ETSU. So what was your uh degree in Lakey?

SPEAKER_01 7:46

So I got my degree in media communications, so I specifically focused in public relations and advertising, and then I double minored in American Sign Language and Political Science, took that, and I did end up going to grad school. I am a recent graduate from Liberty University.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Woo! Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

And I just got that degree in strategic communication, which just focuses on digital communication and digital PR. Um, but I honestly I use my degrees in the way that I am on social media. But um, I after I graduated from ETSU, I got in as the field director for the Bobby Harshbarger State Senate campaign. Okay. And we unsat an 18-year incumbent. In three months, I door knocked over 5,000 of the total 8,000 doors on that campaign.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

But it was a very good time. Totally believed in the mission that Bobby was promoting. And then I ended up working after that for Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger in her Kingsport district office before. Now I actually am an employee of Turning Point USA and I run their Club America volunteer. So I run all of East Tennessee high schools for Turning Point.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Oh my goodness. So, so do we have uh high schools here that are involved with Turning Point, Lakey?

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Yes, we have all over from Dolphins Bennett to Science Hill.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

So I love it.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Yes, it's it's this is a great area. We have had some pushback, um, especially in the Sullivan County area with Tennessee High School. Um, they have denied the club. Um, they've given uh approval for the club, then taken approval back, and then they're saying clubs can't start in the middle of the year, but they have other clubs starting. So we are working through some things with in the Sullivan County area. Um, but that's all the more reason that I'm excited also to be running for commissioner and hopefully be able to be an advocate for that.

What Turning Point USA Does

SPEAKER_03 9:34

Absolutely. So tell us um, tell us your your why. You've told us a lot about yourself, and but tell us the why behind you've decided, you know what, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna run for Sullivan County Commission.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

So my why just goes back to my calling. And I know that God has called me to this from a young age. So I my life verse is Joshua 1.9, and that says, Have not I commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. I had to learn that when I was four years old because I went to a Christian school. My entire education I went to a Christian school. Um, and I just really could memorize that, and I said, Well, this is gonna be my life verse. I didn't realize that God actually picked that life verse for me and how every single year that I'm sanctified and that I'm seeing more and more what God has for me, how much I'm gonna use that courage that God says, no, you can do this because I've given you the courage to do this. I've given you the boldness. So for me, why am I doing this? I just know I'm called to it. Um, and I I think now is with Charlie Kirk's martyrdom, truly, we have to pick up our mic. We do. And if I look in Sullivan County, we have over 50 people on the ballot for county commission. I think that's amazing because that is the whole purpose of how we set up how our founding fathers created this nation. We want to have people running. We don't want to have people in there for life. I'm 23 years old.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

Yes, I'm 23. Most of these people I've been in there for most of my lifetime.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

And that's it's like, you know, and it was not set up for people to have life terms. You know, it was meant to to step in and serve your constituents and and serve and listen to your constituents, but follow constitutional principles. And this country was founded on a biblical worldview, Judeo-Christian values. And we have been, America has been the greatest country that the world has ever known.

Gen Z Trends And Church Renewal

SPEAKER_01 11:44

No, absolutely. And that's what we're trying to instill. And I do believe as much as the media tries to separate us and tries to paint Gen Z as these liberals, I think if we look at even the work that Turning Point did in the last presidential election, we actually had conservative Gen Z men move 11 points to the right. We had conservative Gen Z women, I think, move seven or eight points. The only group that we actually lost a conservative win was the Boomer generation, where they moved three points to the left. It it is amazing. And even um, I think Barnum, they just put out a uh uh survey where it shows that 2025, the largest group going back to church was Gen Z. So I think that this generation, we want traditional values, we want truth. We're seeking it out. Even if maybe we're still trying to figure out what do we believe is true. I mean, I know where I stand, but not everybody in my generation does, they're seeking that out because we've seen what a lack of leadership has done, where now we can't even say that a man can only be a man. We have millions of children being aborted every single year. Yes. We have billions of our dollars funding ridiculous things overseas whenever we have homeless veterans on the streets still. So whenever we think about, hey, and we've seen our own families torn apart because our siblings go to college and they are indoctrinated, or kid or our siblings go to high school and become indoctrinated. We don't want to be on this weird offensive or defensive front. We want to be offensive. So we're seeking truth and we're trying to become the main actors who are pushing for truth.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

And and and I'm telling you, that is your generation is going to be the lifesaver for America. I truly believe that. President Trump would not have been elected without the what Charlie Kirk and Turning Point did. Absolutely. And uh and we're seeing, like you said, Gen Z, the young men, they are conservative. And um it's it's just so important. And and what we're seeing this this did not happen when COVID happened. What made up where we are today is a generation, almost two generations, of walking away from God.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

We took God out of our schools, and and basically God's out of a lot of the churches today. Um I I I really there's only a few, I don't know of many that are actually truly following and and teaching and upholding a biblical worldview because they're so skewed to a woke socialist agenda.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

And even if it's not that they're they're skewed, maybe they believe what is right, but we lack a boldness in the church. So if everybody goes to church and all they do is feel good, that's honestly not the point of church. We're supposed to be convicted and called out at church. And I want to go somewhere that I'm challenged spiritually. And if we're just constantly told, hey, Jesus loves you, God loves you, he does, but also God has conditions. God calls you, you have to be repentant, you have to believe in him, you have to accept these key foundational principles to his word.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

And if we don't do that, and we're not told that, then we don't find actual true redemption and grace that God offers.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

So and you don't realize what Jesus Christ did, what a sacrifice. And I don't know if you're familiar with Ken Ham, Dr. Yeah. He um I listened to him the other day, and we've been to the Ark Encounter up in Kentucky. I'm jealous. I would love to go to the creation museum, but uh a great, great video I watched on him, and it was called Everything That You Ever Need, any question you ever need to answer from a foundational point of view is from Genesis chapter one through Genesis chapter 11. God addresses everything marriage, male and female, sin, you know, murder, everything is there, and we can go to that scripture to base our biblical worldview. I love that. It it's it's tremendous. If I find it, I'll send I'll text it to you.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah, you'll have to do that because I I love Ken Ham. But and I think that that's something that just my generation, that's what we're seeking out. And if we look to even just going back to the Sullivan County election uh for the commission race, there's so many people who are running first time or you know, they they've never held office. Yes, I think that is great. And I do think that this was inspired a lot by what we saw happen with Charlie Kirk. I think that people are tired of being hands-off. And I also think, too, we've had crazy uh tax increases at the county level. Um, you as a 23-year-old, you can't even afford to move out on your own. You can't afford to buy a home. These are something that for me, I believe the American dream should not be far from reality. Absolutely. I don't think that we should have the average buying a home being the age of 40, which is what we're seeing. I know you would know that.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Um, but that's the trend. I don't think that we should say, hey, we're trending to one children households or one child households, because that again, we are not going to, we need to have a high birth rate. We don't need to have a higher death rate. So there's a lot of things that just at the county level, I want to just support, I say, faith, family, and the future of freedom. Because for me, we're fighting for the future. And how you do that is by supporting the family and by doing all of it through a faith base.

Education, Career, And Campaign Wins

SPEAKER_03 17:32

Yes, absolutely. And we want people to get married and have children because it it is a satisfying life to come together as husband and wife and to have children and to be under the authority of of God of God. Um because he's laid out the plan for a blessed life, and we can choose blessing or we can choose cursing.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

No, you're absolutely right. And you see, I come from a huge family, so I'm the second born of five siblings. Oh, I come from five siblings. I'm the baby. Oh, well, I'm jealous. My my little brother, he's the baby. But we've got four sisters and then Walker. Um, and it was just a great time growing up. But my parents, they were very intentional. My mom stayed at home. My dad was just a regular shift worker at Eastman. He would work 60 to 100 hours every week so that we could have everything that we needed for school, but also so we could get things that we wanted. There was never a Christmas that I don't remember being amazing. And it's because my parents made sacrifices. We didn't go on vacation, we didn't have new cars, we went to Goodwill and shopped. And I still shop at Goodwill and I'm proud to say it. Yeah. You know, so for me, that's the kind of life though I think about it was hard. We did live paycheck to paycheck. Um, and I look now as an adult and I see things that even are counties funding, where we're giving so much money to nonprofits. And I'm like, you know, we're funding a nonprofit when that could have been that taxpayer money could have stayed with the taxpayer, and then my parents could have taken my dad could have taken less shifts and we could have afforded dinner easier. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Why why are we why are we funding nonprofits?

SPEAKER_01 19:20

It's a very good question.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

And the other thing I I want to see, and and I'm so thankful that that people like you are running, Lakey, is the accountability of the budget.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Yes, and that's a huge thing.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

Where is that money going? How is it allotted? Why is that not visible to to every citizen in the county, whether no matter what county you live in, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:44

No, and if we look at how some of our really good counties are run, people know where their money is going. And that's very open. Um, even at the Republican Party level, it's very like they show where they're sending their donations. And then also counties are very open with that as well, um, as far as the budget goes. So for me, that's something that I want. I want transparency, I want accountability. And anytime that I'm gonna look at legislation or funding something, my all I'm gonna ask is, is this the constitutional role of our government? If that answer is no, then that's how I will be voting. Yeah. Because for me, I I had the amazing opportunity to go to Patriot Academy, founded by Rick Green, where I got to go to Colorado Christian University. I had an amazing couple. They are mentors to me now, still to this day. They actually funded me to go to this. Um, and I learned all about the constitution. I learned all about being a legislator, and I learned how to legislate as a Christian and make sure that you are upholding Christian conservative constitutional values as a legislator. And it all starts with the basic question of is this the role of government under the constitution?

SPEAKER_03 21:01

Okay, so re-repeat that one more time because I I know that the majority of anybody in a political office could not even tell you one thing about the constitution, let alone legislate by the constitution. So what training did you go to? Tell us that one more time.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Patriot Academy.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

Patriot Academy.

Building High School Chapters

SPEAKER_01 21:22

And Rick Green founded this. Okay. They do five different ones all over, and the age range is very, it's pretty large. So if you are a young person from I think 13 to 28, I believe is the cutoff, you're actually able to go and learn all about being a legislator. You learn how to pass bills, you learn about committees, you do it in real time, but then they also supplement that with the greatest conservative minds coming into a room of there's maybe 50 to 100 of you there. You are getting hands on training by the top conservative thinkers. And it is amazing. They are a national. sponsor with Turning Point USA, I believe. Um, but I I can't speak more highly of that program.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

What a what a gift and what an opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

I know.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

And I know it's just God. If if anybody can listen, whoever listens this podcast, you will know that this this young lady, Lakey Derrick, she is ready and she is equipped to run and she will do a phenomenal job. Thank you. On the commission board. So if you're in Sullivan County, uh please, if you're in District 10, vote for Lakey Derrick.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Well thank you so much for for just letting me be here and for letting me just share a little bit, not just about my race, but just what we're doing. Club America, Turning Point USA, it's exploding and and I'm very excited for what's to come.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Well Lakey, you've uh it's been a pleasure and uh I know that we'll do more podcasts and I've I'm thankful that you're here today. And um we uh wish you the best uh here at Benchmark Happenings and Benchmark Home Loans and um I'm gonna go ahead and uh end our podcast for today. So thank you for being here.

Why Run For County Commission

SPEAKER_00 23:12

No thank you this has been Benchmark Happenings brought to you by Jonathan Tipton and Steve Reed from Benchmark Home Loans. Jonathan and Steve are residential mortgage lenders. They do home loans in Northeast Tennessee and they're not only licensed in Tennessee but Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. We hope you've enjoyed the show if you did make sure to like rate and review our passion is Northeast Tennessee. So if you have questions about mortgages call us at 423 491 5405 and the website is www.jonathansteve.com thanks for being with us and we'll see you next time on Benchmark Happenings