Republican Blackburn Elected as First Female Governor of Tennessee

NASHVILLE—Republican Marsha Blackburn made history as the first woman to be elected governor of Tennessee.

Blackburn, endorsed by President Donald Trump, beat Democrat Jerri Green, a Memphis city councilwoman and lawyer, in a tight race.

The Associated Press called the governor’s race at 12:43 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning.

The longtime Tennessee Republican will become the state’s 51st governor when she takes office in January.

Blackburn ran on a platform to secure the border, deport illegal immigrants, keep communities safe, grow the economy, cut taxes, keep men out of women’s sports, and make sure “Tennessee never becomes California.”

The governor-elect’s historic win was expected in the Volunteer State, which Trump won with 64 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election, as the Cook Political Report ranked it a “solid Republican” seat.

Blackburn led the polls going into the election, and several polls predicted she’d win by double digits.

Trump endorsed her after she edged out fellow Republican opponents U.S. Rep. John Rose and state Rep. Monty Fritts in the August primary.

“Congratulations to our Great Senator from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn, who had a tremendous WIN for Governor last night, against a very strong and talented opponent, John Rose,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social Post on Aug. 7.

Trump stumped for Blackburn and Tennessee Republicans during a rally at the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville on Oct. 10.

“We’re going to send Marsha Blackburn to the governor’s mansion,” Trump told thousands of voters at the rally. “She’s going to do a great job.”

Blackburn promised that she would help keep money in Tennesseans’ pockets and endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.

“On November 3, we are going to pass Amendment 2, which means in Tennessee we will never have a state property tax,” Blackburn declared during the Oct. 10 rally in Clarksville.

The proposed amendment would expand Article II, Section 28 of the Tennessee Constitution that prohibits the Legislature from imposing a state property tax on real, personal, or mixed property, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State.

Republican and Democratic voters told The Epoch Times during the August primary election that they were concerned about rising property taxes in the state.

Blackburn was born and raised in Laurel, Mississippi. She graduated from Mississippi State University in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics. She attended the school on a 4-H Scholarship.

She entered public service in 1995 as the executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment, and Music Commission before being elected to the Tennessee State Senate in 1998. She held that position until she was elected to serve as the congresswoman for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District from 2003 to 2019.

Blackburn was elected as Tennessee’s first female senator in 2018. She led the effort to pass a series of bills that Trump signed into law, including the REPORT Act, which strengthens requirements for tech platforms to report child sexual exploitation and abuse material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The governor-elect also penned the American Music Tourism Act, which Trump signed into law in 2026 and that directs the National Travel and Tourism Office of the Department of Commerce to promote tourism to music-related and sports attractions in the U.S., such as Nashville’s thriving music scene.

She married her husband, Chuck, nearly 50 years ago, with whom she shares two children and two grandchildren.