{"id":63625,"date":"2025-08-06T22:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T22:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/63625\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T22:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T22:29:13","slug":"marsha-blackburn-joins-tennessee-governors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/63625\/","title":{"rendered":"Marsha Blackburn joins Tennessee governor’s race"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn<\/a> announced Wednesday that she is entering the open Tennessee governor\u2019s race in 2026, setting up a primary clash with U.S. Rep. John Rose<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Blackburn\u2019s announcement makes official what had been expected for some time from the ally of President Donald Trump. She had made no secret that she was planning on running for the position.<\/p>\n

It sets up a Republican primary clash in August 2026 against Rose who is also a Trump backer. They will be competing to replace GOP Gov. Bill Lee, who is hitting his limit of two consecutive four-year terms in office.<\/p>\n

Blackburn became the first woman to represent Tennessee in the U.S. Senate<\/a>. If elected, she would be the state\u2019s first female governor, as well.<\/p>\n

Blackburn won her Senate seat in 2018 by nearly 11 percentage points over Democrat Phil Bredesen, a popular former governor. That victory marked a rightward shift from previous Republican senators who have represented the state. She then won reelection against Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson by more than 29 percentage points last November.<\/p>\n

First elected to the U.S. House in 2002, Blackburn aligned with the tea party movement and regularly appeared on Fox News. Before that, the Brentwood resident made a name for herself as a state lawmaker who helped lead the revolt against a proposed Tennessee income tax in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

In an opening campaign ad, Blackburn lauded Trump, promised leadership in job creation and energy production and hit on timely conservative themes \u2014 for example, empowering parents in education, defining \u201cboys and girls the way God made them,\u201d and deporting immigrants in the country illegally, \u201cwhether it takes planes, trains or starships.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his first six months, President Trump has made historic strides in Making America Great Again, but as he sends power back to the states, he\u2019s going to need strong conservative governors who can bring that revolution home,\u201d Blackburn said in an announcement news release. \u201cI\u2019m running to serve as Tennessee\u2019s next governor to ensure Tennessee is America\u2019s conservative leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rose, who announced his bid for governor in March, likewise has voiced strong support for Trump in a state that Trump has easily won in the past three presidential elections. Trump won Tennessee in 2024 by nearly 30 points and Lee defeated a Democratic opponent in 2022 by 32 percentage points. The president\u2019s endorsement will be highly sought-after in the Republican primary.<\/p>\n

Blackburn\u2019s prior statements about considering a bid for governor scared off some prominent Republicans who may have otherwise run.<\/p>\n

Rose, a Cookeville businessman and farmer who can tap into personal wealth, lent his campaign $5 million and raised $1.1 million from donors through June. <\/p>\n

Rose\u2019s campaign chairman, Chris Devaney, said Wednesday that Rose and Blackburn have a \u201cmutual respect\u201d and that Rose voted to keep Blackburn in Washington. But Devaney said that Blackburn\u2019s campaign launch sparks a one-year debate over who will be the best CEO for a state at a crossroads, and Rose has had a head start.<\/p>\n

\u201cSenator Blackburn is going to talk a lot about Washington,\u201d Devaney said. \u201cJohn is going to talk about his record as a CEO, an outsider and a reformer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because Blackburn was reelected to another six-year term last year, her Senate seat isn\u2019t at risk by running for governor. If Blackburn wins, a Senate seat opens up and Blackburn, as governor, would possibly get to appoint the temporary replacement. Rose\u2019s congressional seat is an open contest next year, as well.<\/p>\n

Cito Pellegra of Arlington joins Blackburn and Rose in the GOP primary.<\/p>\n

Several Democrats have announced or opened fundraising accounts for the race so far. They include Memphis city councilmember Jerri Green, Memphis community advocate Carnita Atwater, musician Adam \u201cDitch\u201d Kurtz and Tim Cyr from Gallatin.<\/p>\n

The primary election for governor is Aug. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The story has been updated to correct the first name of Jerri Green.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn announced Wednesday that she is entering the open Tennessee…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,47105,47110,12,1070,793,47111,47107,47106,3,47109,111,2219,45590,47108,2222,795,3438,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-63625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-bill-lee","tag-chris-devaney","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-gloria-johnson","tag-john-rose","tag-marsha-blackburn","tag-news","tag-philip-bredesen","tag-politics","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-state-government","tag-tim-cyr","tag-tn-state-wire","tag-u-s-news","tag-u-s-republican-party","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}