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U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn is Tennessee’s next governor.
Blackburn, a Republican, pulled out a win in the unusually competitive gubernatorial race. The governor-elect netted less than 50% of the total vote, the smallest margin of victory for a Tennessee governor in more than a century.
Democrat Jerri Green conceded the race just after 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night. Green garnered nearly 43% of the vote to Blackburn’s 45.5%, according to early unofficial results when Green conceded.
Blackburn will be inaugurated on Jan. 17, taking the reins from a predecessor who significantly altered Tennessee’s education landscape over the last eight years.
A former state lawmaker and longtime U.S. House representative before she was elected to the Senate in 2018, Blackburn is expected to continue Gov. Bill Lee’s push to broaden state-funded private school choice options.
In the coming weeks, Blackburn will likely begin building her cabinet and selecting advisors. One of her earliest education decisions could be tapping a new Tennessee education commissioner to replace current commissioner Lizzette Reynolds.
Blackburn must also quickly put together a state budget proposal for lawmakers to consider in the upcoming General Assembly session, which begins Jan. 12.
That includes proposing billions of dollars in education funding and setting policy for the nearly 1 million Tennessee students who attend public schools in the state. In a Chalkbeat candidate survey this summer, Blackburn suggested she could allocate more resources toward Tennessee schools by cutting government waste. She also called for greater scrutiny of district spending, citing the ongoing state takeover of Memphis schools.
“As governor, one of the first things that I will do is create Tennessee’s very own version of DOGE so that we can slash wasteful spending and have more space in our budget for what truly matters, like education,” Blackburn said. “Our schools need to be adequately funded so that they are able to provide the resources and opportunities that our students deserve.”
In addition to public school funding, Blackburn will also set policy for the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars flowing to private schools through the state’s rapidly expanding school choice programs — a top campaign issue for the governor-elect.
Blackburn has indicated she wants to expand the Education Freedom Scholarship program to all Tennessee families.
She told Chalkbeat she would fight to expand the voucher program until “no parent has to win the lottery to give their child the education that best suits their unique needs.”
When asked how she would address teacher pipeline issues, she also said she would reconsider educator licensure processes in Tennessee. While classroom teacher vacancies have dropped in recent years, the number of educators with emergency credentials has skyrocketed.
“While we need to hold our teaching professionals to the highest standard, we also need to make certain that our licensing processes aren’t causing us to miss out on individuals who would be great teachers,” Blackburn said.
Democrats flipped at least six Tennessee House seats Tuesday night, including three in the fast-growing Rutherford County area, but Republican lawmakers will still hold supermajority power to bolster Blackburn’s agenda in the legislature.
Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.
