NASHVILLE, TENN (WTVF) — For many Americans, the rising cost of food is hard to ignore.
"There's a situation going on in the world today where everyone is in need of help," said Hollis Biffle, a neighbor who attended a recent food giveaway event.
Organizers with Today's Hope and Food for Health say events like those draw large crowds.
"We're in NYC to Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles, Baltimore, and the story is the same — affordability is something everybody is experiencing right now," said Tara O'Callaghan, director of operations for Food for Health.
Affordability was also a major issue on the campaign trail, as voters delivered some surprising election results.
Democrats flipped six Republican-held state House seats in Tennessee, including three in Rutherford County.
That includes Tennessee's 4th Congressional District, where Democrat Victoria Broderick upset longtime Republican Congressman Scott DesJarlais by just 280 votes.
MTSU political science professor Amy Atchison says the results reflect both grassroots organizing and voter frustration.
"This isn't one where you can say this is because of national politics — that's not what Rutherford County is," Atchison said. "Rutherford County is connected to a candidate and connected because they did the work."
Atchison says elected leaders need to pay attention.
"We underestimate our voters when we say they want one or the other, and to me that was one of the big messages — that we don't like the direction that this is going, and we're going to vote against that direction but also vote for policies we think will benefit us," Atchison said.
She also believes redistricting backfired, with voter turnout overcoming efforts to influence election outcomes through district boundaries.
"Which one would hope it would be a lesson our elected leaders will learn — hopefully voters aren't going to continue rewarding gerrymandering," Atchison said.
For Atchison, the message is clear: elected leaders can't afford to ignore voters. Biffle agrees.
"Whenever you're in a position as a political official, elected or put in office, we have to know they have the opportunity to make a change — not for one area of people, but for everyone involved," Biffle said.
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