In deep-red Tennessee, governor’s race becomes showdown between staunch Trump allies

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Tennessee Republicans head to the polls on Thursday to choose their nominee for governor in a tightening race between two of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress: U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn and U.S. Representative John Rose.

Blackburn, 74, and Rose, 61, are running for the party nod to replace two-term Republican Governor Bill Lee, who is leaving office because of term limits. Five candidates, including Memphis city councilor Jerri Green, are vying for the Democratic nomination.

The governor’s office in Tennessee, a state Trump won by nearly 30 percentage points in 2024, is widely expected to remain in Republican hands in the November general election. 

Blackburn, who spent 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives before entering the Senate in 2019, has led Rose by comfortable double-digit margins for much of the race, according to opinion polls. But in recent weeks, there have been signs that the contest has tightened.

A third Republican candidate, 62-year-old state representative Monty Fritts, could play spoiler by appealing to far-right voters as a self-identified Christian nationalist with strong conservative positions.   

The Tennessee primary election also features the first U.S. House contest since the Republican-controlled state redrew its congressional map to dismantle a majority-Black Memphis district, currently represented by Democrat Steve Cohen. He chose not to seek reelection to the seat, which independent political analysts now rate as safe Republican. 

Four Democrats are vying for their party’s nomination for the seat, including state representative Justin Pearson, who is backed by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and more than a dozen other progressives in Congress, and state senator London Lamar, who has endorsements from Cohen and Memphis Mayor Paul Young.

On the Republican side, four candidates are seeking the party nod, including state senator Brent Taylor, who is endorsed by Trump and Republicans in Congress, and state representative Todd Warner.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Edmund Klamann)