John Ragan

John D. Ragan Jr. was born on December 16, 1948 in Morganton, North Carolina.[1]

Ragan attended the University of North Carolina, the University of Oklahoma, University of Southern California, and the University of Tennessee.[2]

Ragan graduated with the United States Air Force Academy Class of 1971 earning a 2.8 GPA toward his completion of a baccalaureate degree in Engineering Science.[3] Ragan later earned a master's degree in Aeronautical Sciences from Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University.[1][4] He also attended the University of Tennessee as a post-graduate student and the University of Oklahoma, the University of Southern California, and the University of North Carolina in professional capacities.[1]

Ragan served as a commissioned officer for 24 years, as an Air Force pilot.[4] He also taught as adjunct faculty at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of Tennessee. He has been a business consultant with 27 businesses, a number of which are on the Fortune 100 list.[4]

Ragan was issued a Commercial Pilot certificate by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on May 19, 1990 while he was a resident of Statesville, North Carolina.[5]

Ragan has also worked as a substitute teacher with local school systems.[6]

In 2010, Ragan was elected, and re-elected for three subsequent terms, as State Representative to the General Assembly for the 33rd district, formerly represented by Jim Hackworth, focusing on education, illegal immigration, and the economy.[7][8][9] In 2010, he said, based upon academic studies by Vanderbilt University and other sources, there wasn't sufficient evidence that public funding for early childhood education was needed.[10] A year later, he voted to overturn teacher union collective bargaining rights but supported collaborative bargaining.[11]

In the 110th Tennessee General Assembly served as Vice Chair of the House Government Operations Committee, Vice Chair of the Joint Subcommittee on Education, Health and General Welfare, member of the House Health Committee and Subcommittee, Co-Chair of the National Conference of State Legislatures Nuclear Legislative Working Group, Member of the House Health Subcommittee and main Committee, Member of Southern States Energy Board[4] Ragan once wrote a two-page letter as a state legislator requesting that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would site a small modular nuclear fission reactor at the Oak Ridge Federal Reservation.[6]

As a member of the Tennessee General Assembly, Ragan has sponsored bills to restrict the issuance of Tennessee marriage licenses from same-sex couples[12] and has advocated for impoverished parents to be referred to the Tennessee Department of Children for a child abuse investigation if their child accumulates lunch debt.[13]

Ragan reportedly filed a bill in the Tennessee House of Representatives during 2017 requiring government-issued IDs in Tennessee to prominently feature the words “alien” or “non-U.S. citizen” in capital letters for anyone not a U.S. citizen or lacking permanent residency status.[14]

On June 9, 2020, Ragan voted as a member of the House Naming, Designating, & Private Acts Committee against removal of a bust in the Tennessee State Capitol honoring Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee State Capitol building[15] Ragan reportedly answered a constituent's email query questioning his support in the Tennessee House of Representatives for the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust with a reply from the opinion column "Remembering Rutherford: Forrest was postwar activist for black civil rights" published in The Daily News Journal that was put together with research material provided by the Memphis chapter president of the Sons of Confederate Veterans who claimed that the "Retired Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest was an outspoken advocate for the civil rights of the freedmen in postwar Tennessee", based on a Cumberland Presbyterian religious conversion that Forrest chose late in his life.[16][17] Forrest did not "retire" from the Confederate States of America army, but was rather a defeated Confederate military commander at the end of the U.S. Civil War.

In May 2021, at the end of the legislative session, Ragan introduced an amendment to an education bill to prohibit public and charter schools in Tennessee from "teaching that:[18]

• "One race or sex is superior;
• "Any individuals are "inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive" because of their race or sex;
• "A person should receive adverse treatment due to their race or sex;
• Their moral character is determined by race or sex;
• "A person bears responsibility for past actions by other members of their race or sex;
• "A person should feel discomfort or other psychological distress because of their race or sex;
• "A meritocracy is racist or sexist or designed to oppress members of another race or sex;
• "The United States is fundamentally racist or sexist;
• "Promoting the violent overthrow of the U.S. government;
• "Promoting division or resentment between race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, or class;
• "Ascribing character traits, values, moral codes, privileges or beliefs to a race;
• "The rule of law does not exist, but instead is a series of power relationships and struggles among racial or other groups;
• "Americans are not created equal and are not endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; or
• "Governments should deny to any person within the government's jurisdiction the equal protection of the law."

His proposal, which was described as a ban on teaching critical race theory, was quickly adopted by the General Assembly[18] and was later signed into law by Governor Bill Lee, becoming (with minor revisions) a new section in Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 10.[19][20]

Ragan is a Southern Baptist member of the 5,800 member Grace Baptist Church[21] in Knoxville, Tennessee where he has been involved in megachurch video ministry.[1][4][22][6][3]

Ragan is married to his wife Elizabeth (Liz). They are the parents of two children, Amanda and Patrick (deceased), and three grandchildren.[1][3]