I'm Aisha Roscoe and this is a Sunday story. Well another 4th of July is in the

rear view and this year of course it sets the stage for one of the most contentious

presidential elections in recent history. But today we want to turn to what's happening

on the state level, because that's actually where a lot of stuff gets decided, like laws about

guns, abortion, what's taught in schools. One state

that was in the news a lot last year was Tennessee. You might remember a big

story about two black state lawmakers who protested at the State House and then faced expulsion.

That story kind of came and went in the national headlines, but in Tennessee it turns out it was just the beginning. Things got

way more interesting after that. And one reporter, Maribbonite, with WPLN news

in Nashville, followed it all.

NPR's Embedded Podcast teamed up with Mariba on a new series called Supermajority.

And today we're going to play you the first episode. In Tennessee

the Republican Party controls the House, the Senate, and the

governorship giving them full political power. This new series tells the story of three conservative white

mothers who pushed back against their own party after a deadly school shooting.

And a heads up, this episode contains coarse language and

discussions of gun violence.

Okay, here's Maribba.

Sarah Schup Newman had been avoiding crowds, so she spent much of the week hunkered down at home.

An upscale red brick house, tucked away in a quiet cul-de-sac, right on the edge of Nashville.

She'd been trying to comfort her two boys, Noah five years old, and Judah who's two.

But her mind was all over the place. I just found myself saying how how did this

...