Marsha Blackburn won Tennessee’s gubernatorial election Tuesday, becoming the state’s first woman elected to the office even as Democrats made down-ballot gains.¶
With all 95 counties reporting, unofficial Tennessee results showed Blackburn with 45.5 percent of the vote and Democrat Jerri Green with 42.9 percent. Independent David Hatley also received 9.3 percent of the vote. The Election Night results showed Blackburn leading with 957,136 votes over Green’s 902,953.¶
Blackburn Wins Governor’s Race
Blackburn’s victory keeps the governor’s office in Republican hands after Gov. Bill Lee leaves office due to term limits. The win also makes Blackburn Tennessee’s first woman to hold the office, completing a governor’s race that tightened during the final stretch. U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty gave Republicans another statewide victory, defeating Democrat Marquita Bradshaw 55.1 percent to 42.9 percent according to unofficial results.¶
Six State House Seats Flip
Democrats made their biggest gains in the Tennessee House, where six Republican incumbents lost their seats. Brett Windrow defeated Rep. Robert Stevens in House District 13, Bryan Goldberg defeated Rep. Elaine Davis in District 18, Owen Farnsworth defeated Rep. Tim Rudd in District 34, Connie Casha defeated Rep. Mike Sparks in District 49, Allie Phillips defeated Rep. Michael Lankford in District 75, and Jesse Huseth defeated Rep. John Gillespie in District 97.¶
Those results gave Democrats their first House gains in eight years, but Republicans still kept their two-thirds supermajority in the chamber. The six losses were spread across Rutherford, Knox, Montgomery, and Shelby counties, showing that the national shift had spread to several areas of Tennessee without changing control of the General Assembly.¶
No State Senate Losses
Republicans did not lose any state Senate seats they controlled. While 17 Senate districts were on the ballot this year, GOP candidates won all the Republican-held seats, including contested races involving Richard Briggs, Dawn White, Mark Pody, and Brent Taylor.¶
Combined with Blackburn’s win and Hagerty’s reelection, the Senate results helped limit the overall damage for Tennessee Republicans compared with the losses the party suffered nationally.¶
Congressional Loss
The closest setback came in Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District, where Democrat Victoria Broderick finished 280 votes ahead of Republican incumbent Scott DesJarlais according to unofficial returns. Broderick had 95,585 votes to DesJarlais’ 95,305, a margin of about 0.1 percentage points. If the result holds, Republicans would lose one congressional seat, but their Tennessee delegation would remain split 8-1 because Republican Brent Taylor won the redrawn 9th District seat previously held by Democrat Steve Cohen.¶
Tennessee Losses Smaller Than National Wave
Tennessee’s Republican losses were significant, but they were much smaller than the party’s setbacks nationally. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, flipping at least seven U.S. Senate seats and more than two dozen Republican-held U.S. House districts, according to the Associated Press. Democrats also won several governorships and made gains in state legislatures around the country.¶
Tennessee moved in the same national direction, but Republicans still won the state’s two biggest statewide races, held every state Senate seat they controlled, kept a state House supermajority, and finished ahead in eight of nine congressional districts in complete unofficial returns.¶
