Senator Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) entered the race for Tennessee governor on Wednesday, creating a match-up between at least two conservative candidates who have received past support from President Trump.
U.S. Representative John Rose entered the race back in March. Barring any other candidates entering the race, the pair will go head-to-head in the August 2026 primary.
The current two-term senator was reelected in 2024 by a margin of more than 29 percentage points against Democratic state Representative Gloria Johnson. Blackburn’s 2018 election was similarly successful: she beat out Tennessee’s former Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen by an eleven-percentage-point margin. She was the first woman to be elected to represent Tennessee in the U.S. Senate, and will be the state’s first female governor if elected.
Blackburn is vying to fill the seat currently held by Republican Governor Bill Lee, who will be term-limited after serving two four-year terms.
Blackburn has long worked in politics, serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2002 until her election to the Senate in 2018. She also previously served as a member of the Tennessee state senate.
The gubernatorial hopeful posted a video on X Wednesday announcing the campaign and sharing her vision for Tennessee.
“This is Tennessee,” Blackburn said. “We’ll honor the Constitution, we’ll value life, and we’ll define our boys and girls the way God made them.”
The campaign also promises to “make Tennessee America’s number one job-creating and energy-producing powerhouse,” as well as to “deport illegal aliens.”
“I’m running for Governor to ensure Tennessee is America’s conservative leader for this generation and the next,” Blackburn said in a post on X.
The video included many clips of Blackburn with Trump, an endorsement she received in both her previous Senate campaigns. While President Trump has supported both of the current candidates in their past races, it is unclear who he will back in the 2026 race.
Blackburn has already received some endorsements, including from Glenn Jacobs, mayor of one of Tennessee’s largest counties, Knox County.
“Tennessee doesn’t follow; we lead. With Marsha Blackburn as Governor, it will stay this way,” Jacobs said in a post. “@VoteMarsha has a proven record of defending Tennessee conservative values, and exactly one year from today, I will proudly cast my vote for her to be our 51st Governor.”
Read more here.