Longtime Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn will make history as Tennessee’s first female governor without the majority of the vote.
Blackburn beat out her Democratic opponent by less than 3 percentage points. Memphis City Council member Jerri Green managed to make some inroads in ruby red Tennessee at a time when President Donald Trump’s approval rating is at a historic low.
Blackburn claimed victory before the race had officially been called Tuesday night, pledging to put the state budget on a “GLP-1,” or, as she defined it, a “government-lessening plan.”
“We’re going to skinny up that state budget,” Blackburn said.
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Blackburn also took a swipe at Green’s calls for the senator to debate her and other independent challengers, saying she wouldn’t run this campaign on the media or any other candidate’s terms.
Conservative independent David Hatley took some voters away from the mainline Republican party with roughly 10% of the vote. Hatley, who self-funded his campaign, slammed Blackburn for taking out-of-state money for her gubernatorial bid. In turn, Blackburn and her supporters spent nearly $10 million attacking Hatley over his past bank fraud convictions.
At 74 years old, Blackburn also makes history as Tennessee’s oldest governor.
After two decades in Washington, Blackburn returned to Tennessee politics to run for the state’s highest office. The senator said she won’t step down from her U.S. Senate seat until she’s sworn in as governor, giving her the power to choose her own interim replacement. While Blackburn has not confirmed who she’ll pick, former CoreCivic CEO and Blackburn supporter Damon Hininger has a created a non-office-specific candidate page.
A veteran of the U.S. Senate, Blackburn’s bid for governor of Tennessee focused on more national issues like opposing China. She refused to debate her opponents in both the primary and general elections.
After Tennessee’s second failed execution this year, Blackburn called to bring back the electric chair. As the state’s next governor, Blackburn has said she would continue an independent review that began under current Gov. Bill Lee.
Blackburn has touted her work as a state lawmaker. In 2001, she helped quash an effort to impose a state income tax. Voters solidified a ban on the tax through a 2014 ballot amendment.
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