Every county in Tennessee shifted further left during last week’s election. That fact loomed large in Tennessee Senate elections Tuesday morning, as Republicans wrestled with the results of the midterms.
In their bids to lead the Senate, Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, and Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, both nodded to the election results.
“We hear you. We know that we can do better, and we will,” Bailey said. “It’s the Senate’s responsibility to protect and promote the people’s interests, even when they’re inconsistent with the president’s, our party’s and others in power.”
Johnson, meanwhile, characterized the blue wave as a “rebuke on the national party,” and not an indictment of Tennessee senators.
While Democrats flipped six seats in the Tennessee House, the Senate retained its Republican numbers — the only chamber in the Southeast to do so.
The Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus elected Johnson as the nominee for Senate Speaker and Lt. Governor. The full chamber will approve him in the new year.
Johnson replaces the outgoing Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, who chose not to seek reelection this year after nearly 10 years leading the Senate. The win for Johnson signals a continuation of the status quo, as he has served as the Senate Majority Leader for the last eight years.
In one of his final speeches before the caucus, McNally warned that there would be “some tough elections” ahead for the party.
‘A real concern’
Mirroring governor-elect Marsha Blackburn, Senate Republicans have shifted to focus on affordability following the results of this month’s midterms.
“Affordability is a real concern,” Johnson said. “We’re a little more limited in what we can do at the state level, but we’ll certainly be focused on ways we can try to make some incremental improvements.”
So far, Republicans have proposed cutting the state’s grocery tax on select staples like milk and eggs. In the past few years, Democrats in the statehouse have pushed for a complete end to the grocery tax, which is one of the nation’s highest at 4%.
On election night, Johnson played with his band, the Austin Brothers, at Blackburn’s watch party. He acknowledged his close relationship with Blackburn but stressed that it will not compromise his job as Senate Speaker.
Marianna Bacallao WPLN NewsSen. Jack Johnson does a sound check before playing on the stage of the Pinnacle music venue for Marsha Blackburn’s election night watch party on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.
“Most of us have a long relationship with now governor-elect Blackburn,” Johnson said. “But our loyalty is the state Senate, regardless of who the governor is.”
Sen. Dawn White, R-Murfreesboro, will take Johnson’s place as Senate Majority leader, having run unopposed for the position. Democrats made major gains on her home turf; Rutherford County flipped three seats in the Tennessee House blue and elected the state’s first Democratic Socialist representative. Democratic turnout in Rutherford also helped rural Democrat Victoria Broderick oust the Republican incumbent for Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District.
Marianna Bacallao WPLN NewsTennessee Senators congratulate Sen. Dawn White, R-Murfreesboro, on her appointment as Senate Majority Leader on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026.
Former state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, voted by proxy Tuesday after winning Memphis’ redistricted congressional seat over state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis. His election has triggered a special election to replace him in the Tennessee Senate.
State Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, will serve as the new caucus chairwoman.
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