Tennessee 2026 Election Results: Blackburn Becomes the First Woman Governor with 45.52%, All Three Amendments Pass

Governor and U.S. Senator

Tennessee voted in the 2026 midterm elections on November 3. The results below are the collective choice of the state's voters. According to the Tennessee Secretary of State's official unofficial count and Associated Press race calls, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn was elected governor with 45.52% — the state's first woman elected governor — by a margin of just 54,183 votes, and Sen. Bill Hagerty was reelected with 55.08%. The governorship is Tennessee's only statewide elected executive office, so no other statewide executive office was on the ballot. All three constitutional amendments passed. Six of the nine U.S. House seats have been called and three are listed by leader only; Republicans kept supermajorities in both legislative chambers. This year's House elections were held under districts redrawn by the legislature in May 2026.

Governor: Marsha Blackburn (R), 957,136 votes, 45.52%, elected — Tennessee's 51st governor and the first woman elected governor in state history, to be inaugurated on January 16, 2027. Gov. Bill Lee was term-limited and the seat was open. Called by the AP. Blackburn won with a plurality, the lowest winning share for a Tennessee governor in more than a century.

Governor, other candidates: Jerri Green (D), 902,953 votes, 42.95%, trailing by 54,183 votes; David Hatley (independent), 195,564 votes, 9.30%; the other 12 independent candidates each took under 1.3%.

U.S. Senator: Bill Hagerty (R), 1,138,457 votes, 55.08%, reelected to a second six-year term. Called by the AP. Marquita Bradshaw (D) took 886,974 votes, 42.91%.

Senate vacancy note: the state's other Senate seat is Blackburn's own (term to 2030). On becoming governor she must resign it; under state law the governor appoints an interim successor to serve until the 2028 election, followed by a special election for the remainder of the term. No appointee had been named at the time of compilation.

Other Statewide Offices

The governor is the only statewide executive officer elected by Tennessee voters, and no other statewide executive office was up this year.

Attorney General: not directly elected — appointed by the justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court for an eight-year term.

Secretary of State, Comptroller of the Treasury and Treasurer: none directly elected — each is chosen by a joint vote of the two chambers of the General Assembly.

Lieutenant Governor: not separately elected — the office is held by the speaker of the state Senate.

Ballot Questions

How amendments pass: a Tennessee constitutional amendment needs more yes than no votes, and yes votes exceeding half the total votes cast in the governor's race; all three of this year's amendments drew more than 1.3 million yes votes and cleared the roughly 1.05 million threshold.

Amendment 1: expand the courts' power to deny bail — judges may revoke bail for persons charged with capital offenses, terrorism, second-degree murder, aggravated rape and other specified felonies, with the reasons placed on the record. Yes 1,323,704 votes, 67.09% — passed. Called by the AP.

Amendment 2: bar the state from levying a state property tax on real, personal or mixed property. Yes 1,327,075 votes, 66.69% — passed. Called by the AP.

Amendment 3 (Marsy's Law): expand the constitutional rights of crime victims, including notice of minimum sentences and release dates, consultation with prosecutors, and the right to speak at plea, sentencing and parole hearings and attend all proceedings. Yes 1,519,255 votes, 76.02% — passed. Called by the AP.

Those were the ballot's three statewide questions; no local measures are included in this section.

U.S. House

Overview: the state has nine seats. Six have been called, all for Republicans; three (Districts 4, 7 and 9) are uncalled. Called seats plus current leads give Republicans eight seats and Democrats one, unchanged from before the election, with the District 4 and District 9 leaders running opposite to their seats' previous parties, offsetting each other.

District 1: Diana Harshbarger (R, incumbent), 141,117 votes, 67.41%, reelected over Kristi Burke (D), 29.46%.

District 2: Tim Burchett (R, incumbent), 144,892 votes, 57.73%, reelected over Michaela Barnett (D), 41.16%.

District 3: Chuck Fleischmann (R, incumbent), 136,110 votes, 57.59%, reelected over Anna Golladay (D), 40.21%.

District 4: not yet called. Victoria Broderick (D), 95,585 votes, 48.87%, leads incumbent Scott DesJarlais (R), 95,305 votes, 48.73%, by just 280 votes; if her lead holds the seat flips from Republican to Democratic.

District 5: Charlie Hatcher (R), 110,408 votes, 51.66%, elected over Chaz Molder (D), 46.72%. The seat was previously Republican-held — not a flip.

District 6: Johnny Garrett (R), 120,950 votes, 50.77%, elected over Mike Croley (D), 47.51%. The seat was open after John Rose ran for governor — not a flip.

District 7: not yet called. Incumbent Matt Van Epps (R), about 50.27%, leads Darden Copeland (D), about 48.10%, by 5,233 votes; Copeland has conceded, but the AP has not called the race and this list records the lead only.

District 8: David Kustoff (R, incumbent), 114,045 votes, 51.63%, reelected over Heidi Kuhn (D), 46.36%.

District 9: not yet called. Brent Taylor (R), about 49.63%, leads Justin Pearson (D), about 48.50%, by 2,539 votes; if his lead holds the seat flips from Democratic to Republican.

Chinese American / Asian American winners: none among the called winners or the leaders in the uncalled districts.

State Legislature

State Senate: about half of the 33 seats, the even-numbered districts, were up. Republicans hold 27 seats to the Democrats' 6, unchanged from before the election, with no flip of control and the two-thirds supermajority intact; the Democrats' Senate seats were all uncontested, with no seat flips.

State House: all 99 seats were up. Republicans held 75 seats to 24 before the election; afterwards they hold 69 to 30. Democrats gained six seats, flipping six Republican seats — their first net gain in the chamber in eight years — but Republicans retained their supermajority.

Counting and Certification

All figures are from the Tennessee Secretary of State's official unofficial count and AP calls as of the morning of November 4. About 2.1 million votes were cast in the governor's race, and 1,280,642 early and absentee ballots were cast before Election Day. The official statewide turnout percentage had not been published at the time of compilation. House Districts 4, 7 and 9 await calls, and District 4's 280-vote margin may lead to a recount. Counties must complete local certification by November 23; all results are unofficial until state certification. GSM will update this list as the remaining races are called.

Related: 2026 midterm results: all 50 states

Source: Tennessee Secretary of State

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图片来源：田纳西州议会大厦（Nashville），w_lemay 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）

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