Tennessee State Representative. Gloria Johnsonwho rose to national prominence after surviving a vote by Republican lawmakers last year following a gun control protest, won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Thursday and will face the incumbent Republican senator. Marsha Zwartbrand in november.
Johnson won the Democratic nomination on Thursday, defeating Memphis attorney Marquita Bradshaw, Lola Denise Brown and Civil Miller-Watkins.
Shortly after the polls closed, the Associated Press news agency predicted that Johnson had won the race, even though votes had not yet been counted in Tennessee’s major metropolitan areas.
Johnson’s profile rose to a national platform last year after Republican lawmakers in Tennessee tried and failed to ban her from the House over her role in a gun reform protest following a deadly Nashville school shooting. The political spotlight also helped Johnson strike fundraising gold, raising $5 million in the primary.
Johnson, a retired teacher, was first elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2012 but later lost her seat by a narrow margin. She ran again and won her seat in 2017. In 2022, Republicans moved her into a Democratic colleague’s district in another redistricting effort. The retired teacher moved and won a new seat.
In addition to her Senate bid, she is also running for re-election in Knox County’s House District 90. Johnson is unopposed in the race.
Defeating a Republican incumbent in Tennessee will be a tall order, despite Johnson’s fundraising prowess. But Johnson said in July it was “achievable.” She heads into the general election with nearly $2 million in her pocket.
“In 2018, Marsha Blackburn won by 200,000 votes,” Johnson said. “We know there are 300,000 Democratic voters who haven’t voted in the last few cycles. If we can get those people to the polls, we’ll win this race.”
Johnson has been campaigning against Blackburn for months, with much of the Knoxville Democrat’s primary campaign focusing on her GOP challenger over Bradshaw.
Blackburn, seeking a second six-year term as Tennessee’s senior senator, has strong name recognition and popularity among Republicans in deep-red Tennessee. She easily defeated little-known GOP challenger Tres Wittum in the Republican primary on Thursday.
Blackburn was first elected in 2018, defeating former Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen. Bredesen received 43.9% of the vote and carried only three Tennessee counties.
No Democrat had ever won more than 40 percent of the vote in a state election since 2006. Bredesen was the last Democrat to win a state election, when he carried all 95 districts in his 2006 re-election campaign.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee U.S. Senate: Johnson wins Democratic primary, will face Blackburn
