Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn has defeated Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen in a pivotal Senate race in Tennessee.
All eyes have been on this race since Republican Sen. Bob Corker, a prominent GOP Trump critic, announced his retirement — and the race garnered national attention when Taylor Swift decided to weigh in, breaking her political silence and endorsing Bredesen.
But Tennessee is firmly red; the state went for Donald Trump by 26 points in 2016. Polls in the race favored Blackburn, but Bredesen, a popular former governor, was seen as a formidable challenger who remained quite popular with the state’s constituents.
In the end, though, Blackburn — an eight-term Congress member from the state’s Seventh District — won the day. A Trump-loving Republican, she campaigned on the idea that the Senate isn’t partisan enough, and promised to vote to fund the border wall and repeal Obamacare.
Marsha Blackburn is Tennessee’s first woman senator
Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesRep. Marsha Blackburn has been elected as Tennessee’s first woman senator, beating out former Gov. Phil Bredesen for Sen. Bob Corker’s hotly contested open seat. While polls had the two running a close race going into the election, Blackburn ultimately won and made history in the solidly Republican state.
Blackburn is an eight-term member of Congress representing Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District. She and Bredesen were locked in one of the most closely watched elections this year as Democrats sought to win Corker’s Tennessee Senate seat and boost their numbers in the upper chamber. The seat is just one of three open races for the Senate this year.
Read Article >Taylor Swift’s voter push wasn’t enough to turn Tennessee blue
Taylor Swift performs during her Reputation Stadium Tour in Chicago on June 1, 2018. John Shearer/TAS18/Getty Images for TASDespite a wave of hype and a groundswell of voter registrations following Taylor Swift’s surprise Instagram endorsement of two Tennessee Democrats last month, Swift’s brief foray into politics wasn’t enough to turn the state blue in Tuesday’s midterm election.
Swift abruptly broke her typical political silence on October 7 to endorse US Senate candidate and former Gov. Phil Bredesen, as well as US House of Representatives candidate Jim Cooper, in her home state of Tennessee.
Read Article >
