Tennessee Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said her longstanding relationships with members of the Tennessee General Assembly would allow her to work effectively with lawmakers while also pledging to launch a “Tennessee DOGE” initiative aimed at identifying waste, fraud, and government bloat if elected.
During an exclusive sitdown interview with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, Blackburn emphasized that her ability to work with legislators across the state is built on years of collaboration and would be a key asset if she becomes governor.
“I have great relationships,” Blackburn said when asked about her connections with lawmakers. “And I’m so honored that so many have endorsed me.”
Blackburn said those relationships extend beyond Republican lawmakers.
“I’ve got good working relationships with some that are on the Democrat side,” she explained. “They’ve needed information from the federal government. I have helped them with that, or things for their districts. And so there is that foundation of a relationship that is so vitally important to get things done.”
She added that Tennessee’s Republican supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly provide an opportunity for effective governance.
“We’re very fortunate that in Tennessee we have super majorities in both of our houses. That makes a difference,” Blackburn said.
The senator also pointed to her annual visits to each of Tennessee’s 95 counties as another way she has built relationships with state lawmakers and constituents.
“A good thing, too, I do county meetings every year in the counties around the state,” Blackburn said. “And if they are not in session, generally they’re with me in those meetings, and it’s great because if there’s a question that comes up that it’s a state question, I just immediately turn that to the state legislator that is with me. And people get their answers so much faster.”
When asked how she would manage Tennessee’s executive branch, Blackburn said reducing unnecessary government spending would be among her first priorities.
“Absolutely, we do,” Blackburn said when asked whether she has a plan to address state bureaucracy. “William Lamberth, who is the majority leader in the State House, he and I have talked about doing a Tennessee DOGE. He’s a big fan of this, and I think it’s going to be the right thing to do, and we need to do it right off the bat.”
She said the effort would focus on identifying inefficiencies throughout state government.
“Just right off the top, so that we are addressing where there is bloat or waste or fraud that is in state government,” Blackburn said. “We run a pretty lean ship, but there’s always, still there’s waste.”
Blackburn also said she would require more state employees to return to in-person work to better evaluate the state’s workforce.
“And getting people coming back to work, people that have been working remotely, so that we can do a proper assessment of employees and how many we need and where we need them. I think that’s going to be an important thing that we do,” she said.
Early voting for Tennessee’s August 6 primary ends Saturday.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Marsha Blackburn” by Marsha Blackburn.Â
Heck, I could cut more than Blackburn ever will by just quit giving away tax dollars to lure companies to move to Tennessee or for expansion of existing operations. A very large percentage of those companies never live up to their grand projections in LOCAL jobs created or even surviving. I point to Oracle and Ford as two prime examples.
Start with the Legislative Branch. It is the one of the three branches that is expanding….