Marsha Blackburn Officially Nominated for Senate in Tennessee, Will Face Leftist Democrat Phil Bredesen
Conservative Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) officially won the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in Tennessee on Thursday evening, and will face off against leftist former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen in November.
An incredible night spent with friends, family and the best grassroots team in the nation! Team Marsha is fired up for victory in November – I'm in this fight and I'm ready to serve you. pic.twitter.com/dxdhruljaF
— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) August 3, 2018
Congratulations to the Republican nominee for Senate, @votemarsha! Marsha will do a fantastic job representing all Tennesseans in the United States Senate! #TeamMarshapic.twitter.com/V8l9TmuuU9
— TNGOP (@TNGOP) August 3, 2018
Blackburn, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, is one of the biggest rising stars in the Republican Party. She has made her mark on the national political scene, leading on issues like illegal immigration, healthcare, and exposing leftist bias in Silicon Valley.
President Trump endorsed her in April for the U.S. Senate seat, effectively clearing the way for her to easily win the primary. Blackburn had faced some early opposition in the primary from former Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN), but he dropped out in February. Fincher, upon dropping out, was one of the many establishment Republicans who was pushing retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) to jump back into the race.
.@MarshaBlackburn is a wonderful woman who has always been there when we have needed her. Great on the Military, Border Security and Crime. Loves and works hard for the people of Tennessee. She has my full endorsement and I will be there to campaign with her!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2018
But thanks to Trump’s endorsement of Blackburn, Corker never had room to get back in–and Blackburn emerged as the sole serious candidate for the GOP nomination, effectively setting up an earlier general election battle that’s already been simmering between her and Bredesen.
She has regularly appeared on Breitbart News radio on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel, where she has laid out the case for the U.S. to have a wall on its border with Mexico, the Masters of the Universe in Silicon Valley silencing conservatives, and against the idea that there is some big “blue wave” brewing out in the country that would sweep Democrats into the majority.
Think a Democrat blue wave is coming in the #Midterms? Not so fast says .@MarshaBlackburn on .@BreitbartNews Daily on @SiriusXMPatriot#Midterms2018pic.twitter.com/Nhk7r3Yk3g
— SiriusXM Patriot (@SiriusXMPatriot) May 29, 2018
The seat Blackburn is running for is the one being vacated by retiring anti-Trump Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was at one time under consideration to be Secretary of State, but then Corker showed his true colors by coming out guns-a-blazing against President Trump. A Twitter war between the president and the senator–among other battles–ensued, and then Corker’s role in steering back to losing candidate Luther Strange in Alabama’s Senate primary and primary runoff last year led to Corker’s ultimate demise. He announced his retirement from the day that Strange lost to Roy Moore, who would go on to lose the general election to Democrat Doug Jones amid a cloud of accusations of alleged misconduct that Moore denies from decades ago. If the president had stayed neutral, however, and did not follow Corker’s advice – and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had not engaged in the race either – Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) would have likely won a spot in the GOP runoff and then won the nomination and would be a GOP senator today.
Nonetheless, Blackburn faces a battle of her own against a leftist Democrat like Alabama’s Jones who claims to be a moderate in Bredesen. Bredesen celebrated his primary victory on Thursday evening as well, and is backed now by the furthest leftist special interests in the Democratic party:
It's official. Thanks to everyone who supported me in the primary. In case you missed it, you can watch my special address on Facebook Live here: https://t.co/V9CJl2iuiY
— Phil Bredesen (@PhilBredesen) August 3, 2018
While Corker has yet to fully back Blackburn for the Senate seat, the other GOP senator from Tennessee, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), offered his unconditional endorsement on Thursday evening.
“Congratulations to Marsha Blackburn on tonight’s victory,” Alexander said late Thursday. “I look forward to working with Marsha in the United States Senate to continue our Republican majority and deliver conservative results for the American people – including lower taxes, fewer regulations and conservative judges.”
In addition to Blackburn’s victory, Republican businessman Bill Lee won the GOP nomination for governor–edging out Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) and other candidates. Lee will face off against former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, the Democratic nominee as of Thursday evening, in the general election.