Marsha Blackburn

Marsha Blackburn was born on June 6, 1952, in Laurel, Mississippi, where she grew up; her first job, at 16, was at a dress shop.⁠[1][2]

She attended Mississippi State University on a 4-H scholarship and earned a bachelor of science degree in home economics in 1973. As a student she was president of the Associated Women Students, a member of Gamma Beta Phi, and a student manager for the Southwestern Company, a door-to-door book seller, where she was one of its first female representatives in the South.⁠[1][2]

In 1973 she was hired as a sales manager for Times Mirror, Inc.; from 1975 to 1978 she was director of retail fashion and special events at the Caster Knott Co. division of Mercantile Stores, Inc.; and from 1978 she owned Marketing Strategies, a promotion-event management firm.⁠[1]

She founded the Williamson County, Tennessee, Young Republicans and in 1989 became chair of the Williamson County Republican Party. In 1992 she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House seat in Tennessee’s 6th district and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention. From 1995 to 1997 she was executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment, and Music Commission.⁠[1][3]

In 1998 Blackburn became the first woman elected to the Tennessee State Senate from the 23rd District. She served four years, rising to minority whip, and as a state lawmaker in the early 2000s helped lead opposition to a proposed Tennessee income tax.⁠[1][4][5]

In 2002 she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee’s 7th district, taking her seat on January 3, 2003, and served until 2019.⁠[1][5]

In the House she served on the Energy and Commerce Committee and its subcommittees on Telecommunications and the Internet; Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection; and Oversight and Investigations. She was assistant majority whip in the 108th Congress, assistant minority whip in the 109th and deputy whip in the 110th.⁠[1]

In 2015 she was among the first House members to endorse Donald Trump for president.⁠[3]

In 2018 Blackburn ran for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Bob Corker and defeated Democrat Phil Bredesen by nearly 11 points. She took office on January 3, 2019, as the first woman to represent Tennessee in the Senate.⁠[4][3][5]

In November 2024 she was re-elected, defeating Democrat Gloria Johnson by more than 29 points.⁠[4]

On August 6, 2025, Blackburn announced her candidacy in the 2026 Tennessee governor’s race, an open-seat contest because the Republican incumbent was term-limited after two consecutive four-year terms.⁠[4]

In the Republican primary on August 6, 2026, she defeated U.S. Representative John Rose and state Representative Monty Fritts, and the Associated Press called the race for her. At 9 p.m., with some precincts still uncounted, she had 43.8% of the vote to Rose’s 32.7% and Fritts’s 23.4%. She became the first woman to win the Republican nomination for governor of Tennessee.⁠[3]

The same day Democrats nominated Memphis City Council member Jerri GreenJerri GreenJerri Green is an American Democratic politician and attorney who was elected to the Memphis City Council for District 2 in 2023. She was the Democratic nominee for governor of Tennessee in 2026 and lost the November 3 general election to Republican Marsha Blackburn.Open the full entry, the first time in Tennessee history that both major parties nominated a woman for governor.⁠[3][6]

During the campaign Blackburn focused on economic growth and tax cuts, immigration enforcement, women’s sports and public safety, and proposed a “bell to bell, no cell” ban on student phones for the full school day.⁠[7]

In the November 3 general election her opponents included Democrat Jerri Green and independent David Hatley. That night she took the stage and declared victory before any official result, and Green later gave an apparent concession speech. The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office called the race for Blackburn at about 11:24 p.m.; at that point she had 45.52% of the vote (957,136 votes), Green 42.95% (902,953) and Hatley 9.30% (195,564).⁠[8][7]

She became the first woman elected governor of Tennessee and is to be sworn in as the state’s 51st governor in January 2027.⁠[6]

On November 4 she met the outgoing governor to begin the transition, with Deputy Governor Stuart McWhorter, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, chairing her transition committee. Her initial priorities included workforce development and job retraining, workforce housing, child care, public safety, education and health care, and she proposed a “Tennessee-style DOGE” review of state spending, programs, contracts and vacant positions, along with examining property-tax relief for seniors and first-time homebuyers.⁠[9]

On becoming governor she will vacate her Senate seat and appoint an interim senator to serve until the 2028 general election. Asked about the seat, she said, “We’ll have conversations about the Senate at a later date.”⁠[9][6]

Marsha Blackburn for Governor: Official website: https://marshablackburn.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]

X: Public account: https://x.com/votemarsha (opens in a new window).⁠[10]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@votemarshablackburn (opens in a new window).⁠[10]