NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee appears set to make history next month. With women as both major-party nominees for governor, the state is poised to elect its first female governor on Nov. 3.
Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn is favored to defeat Democrat Jerri Green, a Memphis City Council member. The two are running to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Bill Lee, and there is no incumbent in the race.
Blackburn won the Aug. 6 Republican primary over John Rose and Monty Fritts, though she took less than 50 percent of the GOP vote. Green won the Democratic primary the same day over four opponents. A Memphis native, she represents District 2 on the Memphis City Council and began her legal career as a juvenile public defender. Blackburn, who won a second Senate term in 2024, holds a clear edge in a state that last elected a Democratic governor in 2006, and one nonpartisan forecaster rates the race Solid Republican.
The ballot is crowded beyond the two nominees. More than a dozen independents are also running for governor, including Lauren Pinkston.
Tennessee is one of two states, along with Minnesota, where both major parties nominated women this year, setting up likely firsts in each. Nationally, 19 states and three territories have never elected a woman as governor, while the number of women now serving as governor is at a record high of 14.
If Blackburn wins, she would be expected to appoint her own Senate successor. In Minnesota, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the front-runner for governor, which could send two sitting senators to governor’s offices in the same election.
