Misam Abidi
Businessman, financial education & emerging technology
Misam Abidi is an independent candidate for governor on the general election ballot. Independent candidates qualify by petition rather than through a primary: 25 registered voters' signatures, filed with the Secretary of State by the March 10, 2026 deadline. Abidi filed on March 5, 2026 and lives in Nolensville.
Nolensville, Williamson
No TREF disclosure on file at last refresh
Who they are
Politics1 lists Abidi's occupation as credit consultant. In June 2026 a federal grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee returned an 11-count indictment against Misam M. Abidi of Nolensville, the same name and city the Secretary of State lists for this candidate. WREG Memphis reported that the man named in the indictment is the independent candidate for governor. The indictment charges three counts of wire fraud, two counts of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, three counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, and three counts of money laundering, and alleges that between 2020 and 2024 he “diverted over $1,900,000 of investor funds to himself and his family” through the cryptocurrency investment firm Star Credit Holdings. Separately, in May 2024 the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance and the state Attorney General filed suit against Abidi and others, alleging they engaged in “fraudulent activity and acted as unregistered broker-dealers and investment advisers.” An indictment is an allegation. The charges have not been proven in court and Abidi has not been convicted.
Source: Politics1; IRS Criminal Investigation (2026-06-12); U.S. Department of Justice, Western District of Tennessee (2026-06-12); WREG Memphis (2026-06-12); Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (2024-05-06)
Why they are running
Abidi campaigns under the slogan “People Over Institutions” and organises his platform into seven pillars: a future economy and crypto innovation, citizen wealth and a Tennessee Dividend Fund, healthcare affordability, the Tennessee Skills Guarantee, due process and institutional balance, addiction recovery reform, and human-centered governance. Of the dividend fund he writes that “government should help citizens build long-term wealth, not just collect taxes.” He describes working as a personal banker at Bank of America, “where I gained deep knowledge about credit, lending, and financial systems.”
Source: Abidi campaign
Where they stand on education
Abidi's fourth pillar, the Tennessee Skills Guarantee, holds that “every student should graduate with real skills that allow them to build stability and opportunity.” He argues that if Tennessee “ensures that every student leaves high school with at least one marketable skill, it dramatically reduces the chance that someone becomes trapped in poverty,” and lists financial literacy education, trade skill training, technology and AI education, and apprenticeships among its goals. He also asks: “Why do schools not teach people how credit works? Why do so many Americans graduate without the tools needed to build financial stability?” The platform does not address the Education Freedom Scholarship voucher program, the state funding formula, or teacher pay.
Source: Abidi campaign
How they qualified
Independents do not run in a primary. They reach the general election ballot by petition, which in Tennessee means gathering 25 valid voter signatures and filing by the qualifying deadline of March 10, 2026. Misam Abidi filed from Nolensville on March 5, 2026, and the Secretary of State recorded the petition signatures as approved.
Abidi's campaign site is a single-page application: a plain request returns only the title and slogan, and the platform loads from a JavaScript bundle. An earlier version of this page reported that the site carried no policy content and declared an education gap on that basis. That was a retrieval failure on TNFirefly's part, not an absence, and it has been corrected against the site's own text.
Sources
- 1. Politics1, Tennessee 2026 Elections
- 2. Abidi campaign, Misam Abidi for Governor
- 3. IRS Criminal Investigation, Middle Tennessee man indicted for crypto Ponzi scheme (2026-06-12)
- 4. U.S. Department of Justice, Western District of Tennessee, Middle Tennessee Man Indicted for Crypto Ponzi Scheme (2026-06-12)
- 5. WREG Memphis, TN man accused of 'cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme' indicted (2026-06-12)
- 6. Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, TDCI, TN AG take legal action to protect consumers in case involving Star Credit Holdings, NumisMe, Misam and Anisha Abidi, and Raza Galani (2024-05-06)
- 7. Tennessee Secretary of State, 2026 candidate lists (certified qualified candidates for governor)
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About this tracker
This tracker is produced by The Tennessee Firefly, an independent, nonpartisan news outlet covering education and government in Tennessee. We don't endorse candidates. We don't take political ads. We follow the money, the policy, and the people who shape your kids' schools. All data comes from official filings, verified reporting, and on-the-record sources, with freshness timestamps visible on every page that surfaces live data.