U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn announced she is running for Tennessee governor, ending months of speculation. The senior senator, who lives in Brentwood, said Aug. 6 she’s in the race.
“I’m running for governor to ensure Tennessee is America’s conservative leader for this generation and the next,” she said.
The primary election to replace term-limited Gov. Bill Lee is Aug. 6, 2026, and U.S. Rep. John Rose is the only other declared candidate. He announced his candidacy March 20.
In her announcement video, Blackburn shared priorities to “make Tennessee America’s number 1 job-creating, energy-producing powerhouse, to deliver a world class education for our children by empowering parents” and to “deport illegal aliens.”
Blackburn is already the recipient of endorsements from across the state even without having announced she’s running, including from once-gubernatorial hopeful Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann.
Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee, an influential conservative policy group that helped the state’s school choice voucher program across the finish line, are mobilizing to knock 200,000 doors to “share how Marsha Blackburn led the way in the U.S. Senate to secure major WINS for President Donald Trump & TN taxpayers.”
Blackburn became the first woman elected to represent Tennessee in the U.S. Senate when she won in 2018. If she were elected governor, she would be the first woman to serve in that role, too.
In the Senate, she’s been a fierce defender of President Donald Trump. Recently, she successfully passed legislation to change the federal framework for reporting crimes involving the online sexual exploitation of children.
Blackburn was elected to the Tennessee Senate in 1998. She served there until 2003, then was elected to represent part of Middle Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives until her 2018 election to the U.S. Senate. She was reelected to the U.S. Senate in 2024 with 89.5% of the Republican primary vote. In the general election, she received 63.8%.
Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Marsha Blackburn enters race for Tennessee governor in 20226
