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Blackburn holds on to her U.S. Senate seat

Courtesy office of Sen. Marsha Blackburn
Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn is one of several Republicans being considered as a potential running mate for former President Donald Trump.
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Incumbent Sen. Marsha Blackburn has beaten out state Rep. Gloria Johnson in a high-profile battle for one of Tennessee’s two U.S. Senate seats. The Associated Press called the race for Blackburn just after polls closed at 7 p.m.   

Johnson was catapulted onto the national stage as a member of the so-called Tennessee Three after her Republican colleagues in the statehouse tried to expel her, along with Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. Johnson parlayed that attention into her campaign against Blackburn, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018.

But it wasn’t enough to overcome Trump-endorsed Blackburn’s hold on the red state. Blackburn out-fundraised Johnson by thousands, though Johnson’s campaign told The Nashville Banner that it raised more than most Democrats in recent Tennessee history, and Johnson did beat Blackburn in the number of individual donations.  

Paige Pfleger, Criminal Justice Reporter

Paige Pfleger covers criminal justice for WPLN News. She has investigated guns and juvenile justice as a fellow with ProPublica's Local Reporting Network, and her investigation into domestic violence and firearms dispossession won a regional Edward R. Murrow award and was a finalist for an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award and a Livingston Award. She previously covered criminal justice and addiction in Ohio and was named the state's reporter of the year by the Associated Press. Her work has appeared nationally on NPR, The Washington Post, Marketplace, and PRI's The World, and she has worked in the newsrooms of The Tennessean, Michigan Radio, WHYY, Vox and NPR headquarters in DC.

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