Born to fly, bound to run in Tennessee
JMore American families are only having two kids, which means there aren’t as many middle children. It’s all part of the plan to make middle children feel more left out.”
Jimmy Fallon
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”
OHNSON CITY, Tenn.— Republican Ashley Nickloes is the only woman in a seven-way primary race to fill a congressional seat held by one family for five decades. She’s also the only military pilot in the race, running against a litany of odds, including the strong possibility that she’ll lose to a popular career politician who hunts Bigfoot and made it easier for Tennesseans to eat their roadkill. Not. Kidding.
Nickloes and I talked last week about her decision to seek the
2nd Congressional
District seat long held by retiring Rep.
John J. Duncan Jr.
(and before that, his father). In December, she was in Washington on her daughter’s seventh-grade class trip, during which the group visited one of her state’s representatives (she won’t say which one). Nickloes asked a question and got an answer that made her mad.
Her query: “In light of Congress’ inability to pass a budget and its detrimental effect on our military, do you think you’ll be able to pass a budget before the continuing resolution ends?”
His reply was that the military has everything it needs and that the Pentagon has sold the American people a bill of goods. At this, Nickloes stepped forward, extended her right hand, and said, “I’m Lt. Col. Ashley Nickloes. I fly a 1957 aircraft, and some of our enlisted men and women live below poverty. Yes or no, can you pass a continuing resolution?” It was a moment.
Already a trained pilot, and having initially been turned down by the Tennessee National Air Guard because they felt she couldn’t handle the physical demands, she took a flight attendant job at her father’s urging. Also a pilot, he told her to get to know the pilots, who often also serve in the Guard, and take any Guard pilot job she could get.
When the New York National Air Guard had an opening, Nickloes applied. “Yeah, we need a chick,” she says she was told. “You’d be a quota.” Finally, an officer said: “Go to the bar tonight, drink, don’t make an ass of yourself, and we’ll hire you in the morning.” #Done.
I asked how she manages a family, includingfour children, ages 8 to 15; her surgeon/professor husband; her career as a commander in the Tennessee Air National Guard and the U.S. Air Force; eight deployments since 9/11, including five times to the Middle East, flying a KC-135 Stratotanker— she refuels aircraft in flight— while also (are you kidding?) pursuing a master’s degree in the “operational art of war.”
Faith and family, she answered. “I am blessed to serve. If my family and faith are strong, my service is stronger.”
Thus far, Nickloes lags her fellow GOP contenders in fundraising and, therefore, exposure, mostly because she’s had only about 100 days to build a campaign after returning in April from her most recent deployment. Her toughest opponent, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, is a former member of both the state House and Senate and has never lost an election.
His popularity is unrivaled, perhaps, because as a legislator, he eliminated red tape for people who want to quickly scoop up their roadkill. He’s also well-known as an avid Bigfoot hunter, which prompted Nickloes to wonder aloud: “If I kill Sasquatch, does that mean he’s mine?”
Nickloes, meanwhile, has won the endorsement of the Knoxville News Sentinel, and a fundraising group in Washington, D.C., “Defending Main Street,” just released a six-figure ad about Nickloes for the Knoxville market.
Should Nickloes beat the odds and win the Aug. 2 primary and ultimately is elected, she’ll continue serving in the Guard and hopes to apply her experiences to tackling defense and health care, as well as term limits. Serving in Congress, she says, should be like any other mission. You do the job, and then you go home.