Counting Update: Blackburn Leads Green With 842,117 Votes in Tennessee Governor's Race
On the night of November 3, as voting ended and counting advanced in Tennessee's 2026 midterm elections, Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn held a temporary lead in the governor's race. Associated Press figures show 1,463 of 1,817 precincts reporting, about 80.52%, with Blackburn at 842,117 votes and Democratic nominee Jerri Green at 797,140; the AP lists the race as too early to call. Independent candidate David Hatley was third and conceded on election night.
The election will decide who succeeds term-limited Republican Governor Bill Lee. Whoever wins, Tennessee will elect its first woman governor. Blackburn, a longtime U.S. senator, is a central figure in Tennessee Republican politics. Green, a former Memphis city councilor, held more than 210 public events statewide during the campaign, running on affordability and education, proposing more funding for public schools, eliminating the grocery tax and using medical marijuana legalization revenue to improve roads. Hatley originally ran as a Republican but switched to an independent candidacy because a 1998 federal bank fraud guilty plea left him short of the recent Republican primary voting record required, and he put $12 million of his own money into the campaign. Tennessee voters the same day also chose a U.S. senator, nine U.S. House seats, state legislative seats and three state constitutional amendments. Final results must be officially certified.
Source: Associated Press
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：田纳西州议会大厦，位于 Nashville（Kaldari，Public domain，经 Wikimedia Commons）。 / Photo: The Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville (Kaldari, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
