U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) was declared the winner of the Republican primary for Tennessee governor Thursday evening, less than an hour and a half after polls closed across the state.
At 8:24 p.m. CST when the race was officially called by Decision Desk HQ with 67 percent of the total vote in, unofficial results published by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office showed Blackburn had garnered 43.09 percent of the vote compared to U.S. Rep. John Rose’s (R-TN-06) 33.20 percent and State Rep. Monty Fritts’ (R-Kingston) 23.71 percent.
Blackburn’s victory comes exactly one year after she officially launched her gubernatorial campaign on August 6, 2025, when she entered the race pledging to ensure Tennessee remains “America’s conservative leader.”
Campaign finance reports filed ahead of Thursday’s Republican gubernatorial primary displayed sharp differences in each candidate’s financial position.
Blackburn reported the largest campaign war chest by a wide margin, raising millions of dollars and maintaining a substantial cash-on-hand advantage entering Election Day. She reported $6,898,635.78 in receipts during the reporting period and entered Election Day with $2,552,695.47 in cash on hand after spending $5,181,951.83.
Rose reported $3,030,630.73 in receipts, $2,723,274.79 in expenditures, and $638,051.73 remaining in his campaign account.
Fritts, by comparison, reported a beginning balance of $62,209.26, no monetary contributions during the reporting period, $2,850 in in-kind contributions, and $26,000 in outstanding self-financed loans, while reporting no outstanding obligations.
During one of her final media appearances before polls closed on Thursday, Blackburn told The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy that the issues she highlighted throughout the campaign had resonated with Republican voters across Tennessee, arguing that the platform she built over the past year reflected concerns she heard in communities statewide.
“Tennesseans have listened to our message. We have listened to Tennesseans as we built that message. We know we’ve got the right message,” Blackburn said during an interview Thursday morning on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Throughout the Republican primary, Blackburn campaigned on a conservative policy platform that included launching a “Tennessee DOGE” initiative to identify waste, fraud, and government inefficiency, requiring more state employees to return to in-person work, and working with the General Assembly to reduce government spending.
She also pledged to pursue legislation requiring voters to register with a political party in order to participate in that party’s primary elections, arguing the change would prevent cross-party participation in nominating contests.
On education, Blackburn proposed a statewide “bell to bell, no cell” policy that would prohibit student cell phone use throughout the entire school day, going beyond Tennessee’s current law, which requires districts to restrict device use only during instructional time. During the campaign, she also suggested her administration would explore additional ways to reduce classroom technology distractions beyond cell phones.
Blackburn said her administration would continue emphasizing lower taxes, business-friendly policies, public safety, strict immigration enforcement, and pro-life policies, telling voters on Election Day that Tennesseans “want to be known as a Christian conservative state” and that those priorities would guide her governorship.
With Thursday’s victory, Blackburn now advances to the November 3 general election, where she will face Democratic opponent Jerri Green.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Marsha Blackburn” by Marsha Blackburn.
