NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Dr. Jason Martin, a Tennessee critical care physician in Sumner County, is throwing his hat into the race for governor of Tennessee as a Democrat.

“Tennessee once had a reputation for hospitality and our volunteerism and for caring for our neighbors, for more than a decade now our corrupt leaders have worked to divide us and challenged us to abandon those values, that ends today,” Martin said in a speech next to the ER at Nashville General Hospital.

Martin, an ICU doctor, said education, healthcare, and business growth will be part of his agenda. “We can thrive with improved education for all Tennesseans, we can thrive with better healthcare, we can thrive by growing businesses that strengthen families and we can thrive by fortifying rural Tennessee and modernizing our infrastructure.”

Dr. Martin, who treats COVID-19 patients, says Governor Bill Lee made politics a priority over the health of Tennesseans.

“Governor Bill Lee continued to abandon Tennesseans and he let us slide back rather than leading with policies that will keep our kids in schools, our businesses open and thriving and keep our families safe,” he said. “Lee put extremist ideology ahead of the people of Tennessee.”

Martin raised $100,000 in the hours since he launched his campaign. The critical care doctor says he will support criminal justice reform, public safety, and the modernization of Tennessee’s marijuana laws.

“Everybody wants to live in a safe neighborhood, everybody wants a strong public school for their children and everybody wants the satisfaction of a job that feeds their families,” Martin said.

Dr. Martin isn’t the only Democrat in the race. Dr. Casey Nicholson, a minister from Greeneville, announced last week he is running for the Democratic nomination for governor in response to “Governor Lee’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Tennesseans will go to the polls in 2022 to vote for Governor.