Republican US Sen. Marsha Blackburn has enetred the Tennessee governor’s race in 2026, setting up a primary clash with US Rep. John Rose.
According to CNN, Blacknurn on Wednesday, August 6, officially announed that she in entering ino the governor’s race the decision that ad been expected for some time from the ally of President Donald Trump.
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 four-year terms in office.
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 has represented the state.
She then won reelection against Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson by more than 29 percentage points last November.
First elected to the US 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.
In an opening campaign ad, Blackburn lauded Trump, promised leadership in job creation and energy production and hit on timely conservative themes including, empowering parents in education, defining “boys and girls the way God made them,” and deporting immigrants in the country illegally, “whether it takes planes, trains or starships.”
