Fall matchup set between 'Tennessee Three' Democrat Gloria Johnson and GOP US Sen. Marsha Blackburn

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a top Republican ally of former President Donald Trump, will square off this fall in Tennessee against Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson, whose progressive profile rose nationally when her GOP colleagues tried to boot her from office over a gun control protest on the chamber floor.

Both women fended off primary challenges Thursday, setting up a distinctly different general election than Blackburn faced when she first won her office in 2018 while she was in the U.S. House.

Blackburn won six years ago by beating Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen by almost 11 percentage points, toppling a well-liked moderate candidate who had hoped to have crossover appeal with even some Republican voters and who even ultimately supported Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious nomination to the Supreme Court. Tennessee has now only elected GOP statewide candidates for nearly two decades, picking further-right candidates who align with Trump instead of the conservative dealmakers of its past.

Blackburn again is touting an endorsement by Trump, who beat President Joe Biden by 23 percentage points in Tennessee in 2020. She helped craft the GOP’s policy platform for Trump this year and touted his candidacy in her Republican National Convention speech. One of her first TV ads highlighted her opposition to transgender athletes in women’s sports, now part of that GOP platform.

“In the U.S. Senate, I will continue to champion conservative, America First policies by working to lower taxes, secure the border, support our veterans, hold Big Tech accountable, and ensure our adversaries fear us again,” she said in a statement Thursday. “This November, Republicans must unite to take control of the U.S. Senate, keep the House of Representatives, and elect President Donald Trump to the White House.”

Trump's endorsement helped another Tennessee incumbent Thursday — Republican Rep. Andy Ogles managed to defeat a well-funded opponent, Nashville council member Courtney Johnston, as he pursues a second term in the 5th Congressional District. In the fall, he faces Democrat Maryam Abolfazli, who was unopposed in her party’s primary.

Johnson, meanwhile, won her Senate Democratic primary after an act of defiance against the GOP supermajority propelled her into the spotlight last year, days after a school shooting that killed three children and three adults. At the time, she joined fellow Democratic Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones as they walked to the front of the state House floor with a bullhorn. They joined the chants and cries for gun control legislation by protesters in the public galleries and outside of the chamber.

The trio were quickly dubbed the “Tennessee Three” as they faced expulsion hearings for violating House rules. Pearson and Jones, who are both Black, were expelled, while Johnson, who is white, was spared by one vote. Shortly after the expulsion vote, Johnson quickly noted that she avoided expulsion likely because she was white. Republicans denied race was a factor, noting her defense argued her role was lesser, such as not using the megaphone.

The scene was broadcast worldwide, and the three have made guest appearances on TV and at Democratic events nationally since.

Johnson, 62, has been a critic of Blackburn’s policy positions, arguing that most Tennesseans want “common sense gun legislation” and better access to reproductive care. Faced with Tennessee’s strict abortion ban, she testified about the abortion she had at age 21 due to an aortic aneurysm that likely would have killed her if she did nothing but might have harmed the baby if Johnson got the treatment she needed to save her own life.

Blackburn, 71, has opposed gun control measures throughout her political career and has deflected when asked whether she supports a national ban on abortion, saying that she supports the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion and that the issue should be left to voters. Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, in 2020 and prior years she voted to advance a bill that would have banned abortion at 20 weeks.

After her win, Johnson said in a fundraising pitch that “the real fight begins now.”

“Imagine a better future for Tennessee: Extremism? We’ll reject it. Reproductive rights? We’ll defend them. Our democracy? We’ll fight for it. Better opportunities for working families? You bet we’ll make it happen,” Johnson wrote.

During her Republican National Convention speech, Blackburn harkened back to her time in the spotlight during protests at the statehouse. She touted her advocacy as a state senator in 2001 against a Tennessee income tax proposal that ultimately failed. Protesters converged on the Capitol, pounding on the state Senate chamber doors and breaking windows, including one at the governor’s office.

In the 5th District race, Johnston had hoped that Ogles had irked enough Republicans by creating headaches over questions about his resume, inaccurate campaign finance reporting and a headline-grabbing approach to lawmaking.

Ogles first won the congressional seat in 2022 after Tennessee Republicans redrew the district to include a part of left-leaning Nashville.

Leaders representing the growing city sharply criticized the redistricting, saying it diluted Nashville’s interests by dividing it into three congressional districts that include wide swaths of rural Tennessee. The concerns grew with the election of Ogles, a former mayor of Maury County two counties south of Nashville.