Bill Haslam

In general, everybody should admit the world is changing really fast, and it's hard for the conversations to keep up. I mean, it's hard to remember now, but when Barack Obama ran for president, he was against gay marriage.

Almost every business is regulated by the state. So if you're going to say, 'If you own any business, you shouldn't run for public office,' I don't think that's what we want.

If we abandon our values by completely shutting our doors to those who seek the freedom we enjoy or mistreating our neighbors who made it here after enduring unimaginable hardships, the terrorists win.

I join a lot of others who say, as someone who is a first time candidate, you have to realize that words matter, and the things you say have a lot broader impact, and I join those who are thinking that we hope that now that Trump is the Republican nominee there's a shift toward a more thoughtful approach to how and what you communicate.

We have to be about finding long-term solutions to our biggest challenges.

I personally wonder... regardless of whether you're a religious person or not, everybody comes into every conversation with a particular worldview and things that you believe are right or wrong. The question is can you counsel from a totally non-value-based position?

I don't know how you talk about the founding of America, and what became of the United States, without talking about religious doctrine.

Men and women motivated by faith have every right and obligation to bring their belief and commitment to the public debate. However, that is very different from the governmental establishment of religion that our founders warned against and our constitution prohibits.

If we are recognizing the Bible as a sacred text, then we are violating the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Tennessee by designating it as the official state book.

We have a lot of entitlement programs in this country, and we've seen how much they cost us on the back end when people don't have the education they need. I say let's make this investment on the front end. I think it'll be better for the individual and better for our state in the long term.

Let's bear down on what we can do together: keeping Tennessee a state with a strong financial condition, helping Tennessee be the number one location in the Southeast for higher-quality jobs. And making certain that all Tennesseans, regardless of their circumstances, have an opportunity for higher-quality education.

Governors sometimes have a hard time jumping up on a table and yelling the loudest because they've actually been there. They realize it's difficult to govern in a split environment.