Democrat State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) intends to file for reelection to the Tennessee House of Representatives despite being five months into her longshot U.S. Senate bid to unseat incumbent Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), according to a report by Knox News.
Johnson is one of the “Tennessee Three” lawmakers who commandeered the House floor to demand gun control in the wake of the Covenant School last year.
In a statement to Knox News, Johnson said, “After a lot of deep reflection and after an outpouring of calls, texts and emails from voters in the district, I have made the decision to file for reelection to the (state) House in 2024 as I run for U.S. Senate.”
Johnson (pictured above) must file for reelection by April 4 in order to be on the August 1 primary ballot as a candidate for the State House in addition to her place on the ballot for the U.S. Senate.
As of publication, Johnson would run uncontested in her reelection bid to the State House.
If Johnson were to be reelected to her State House seat and elected to replace Blackburn in the U.S. Senate, the Knox County Commission would be responsible for appointing an individual to serve in the House until a special election is held in the case Johnson decides to take on the role as a U.S. senator.
Johnson faces two primary opponents in the Democratic U.S. Senate race: environmental activist Marquita Bradshaw, who was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2020, and Fayette County Public Schools Board Member Civil Miller-Watkins.
Last month, a poll released by the Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee showed Johnson with a 30-point lead over Bradshaw (41 percent-11 percent) and a 39-point lead over Miller-Watkins (41 percent-2 percent) in the primary race while 45 percent of respondents remained undecided.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Gloria Johnson” by Gloria Johnson.
The deviant diva must remain the center of attention.
I agree 100% with John Bumpus, very well said.
Ms. Piggy is gettin’ a little full herself. She needs to quit believing her own hype.
Ms. Johnson should not be allowed to run for two offices at the same time. This should be ILLEGAL. Period. End of discussion. It is bad enough when a person who holds Office A, and while still holding that office, and receiving a salary therefor, then seeks election to Office B. In my opinion, this should be illegal too, but I digress.
Suppose that a candidate at the same time runs for two offices and wins both offices? What the person has just done by that action is to compel the public to bear the expense (which is not inconsiderable, certainly thousands of dollars, maybe even tens of thousands of dollars, maybe more depending upon the extent of the physical boundaries of the jurisdiction for which the office is sought—Lyndon Johnson actually did this in 1960 in Texas when he ran for both re-election to the U. S. Senate and for Vice President, and was elected to both offices at the same time) of holding a Special Election to fill the vacancy created when the office seeker necessarily must choose which office he/she really wants to hold. (Unless of course, someone at some time in the future wants to try to assert the legal right to hold both offices at the same time. Don’t say that such a thing will never happen. Crazier things than this have happened.)
What if a gazillionaire wants to seek three offices at the same time, or four, or more? Once the principle is established with two, what is to stop it if someone wants to seek more than two offices at the same time?
The Tennessee General Assembly and the Governor should just ‘step in’ concerning this ‘double dipping’ attempt by Ms. Johnson and say, NO, we will not allow this!
Cmon Knoxville, don’t reelect this divisive, hateful woman, you can do better than her.
‘i know i am gonna lose the senate race and can’t stand the idea of not wasting the taxpayer’s money in some fashion’