The Tennessee Star on Monday obtained videos from a newly released ad campaign by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who is currently favored to win reelection against State Senator Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), which feature prominent Tennessee conservatives celebrate Blackburn’s role in the successful 2003 effort to defeat an income tax proposal.
Blackburn’s videos include remarks from State Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), former State Representatives Mae Beavers and Donna Barrett, and Nashville Tea Party founder Ben Cunningham, who each noted the senator was a key figure in the 2003 effort, which saw Blackburn successfully use conservative talk radio to leverage an outpouring of grassroots activists against a proposed 3.5 percent sales tax.
Johnson reflected on “the courage it must have taken” for Blackburn to defy Tennessee Republicans when she rallied constituents to oppose the effort, despite knowing Republicans, including former Governor Don Sundquist, were willing to work with Democrats to pass the tax.
“It showed me that you can make a difference, and that’s something that Marsha Blackburn taught a lot of us who were passionate and wanted to be involved,” said Johnson. “Ultimately, despite the efforts of a Democratic-controlled General Assembly, and a Governor that was pushing a state income tax, Marsha Blackburn made sure it didn’t happen.”
Cunningham similarly reflected, “Marsha understood the importance of the moment like nobody else, and how absolutely critical it was that we come out there and we stop it.”
Beavers, who was a colleague of Blackburn at the time, reflected that Republican leadership was likely “irate about what we were doing… They didn’t like it.”
Also a colleague of Blackburn at the time, Barrett said Blackburn’s involvement generated intense public opposition to the income tax proposal.
“As we were going around to rallies during the campaign season, Marsha would get on stage and had this unimaginable amount of energy that you had no choice but to follow,” said Barrett. “She was right on the issues, she had the people’s support.”
After the income tax proposal was defeated, Tennessee went on to approve legislation for an amendment to the Tennessee Constitution, which in 2014 permanently banned prohibited lawmakers in the Volunteer State from levying an income tax on its citizens.
In a statement about the video, Blackburn said, “When Tennesseans made it clear they didn’t want a state income tax, I fought for them, and together we stopped it.”
The senator stated, “The victory we achieved to ensure Tennessee does not – and never will – have an income tax was a noteworthy grassroots effort that shows what happens when a government works for the people. Today, Tennessee is proudly one of the most economically friendly states in the union.”
Polling previously showed Blackburn holding a double-digit lead over Johnson, her Democratic opponent, and in July her campaign reported a financial advantage of more than $7 million.
Watch the full digital ad released by Blackburn:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Sen. Marsha Blackburn” by Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
