Incumbent Sen. Marsha Blackburn has made her final pitch to GOP voters and the MAGA faithful calling on them to “take our country back” on Nov. 5.
“I am going to continue to be there to fight for you all,” she told a crowd of hundreds of Republicans at state Sen. Majority Leader Jack Johnson's Oct. 20 Boots and Jeans, BBQ and Beans fundraiser in Franklin.
Blackburn is one of former President Donald Trump's most die-hard allies in the senate, despite his numerous legal challenges, including his federal indictment related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his 2022 call for the “termination” of parts of the Constitution while pushing election lies.
“We are working to make certain that we make the Trump tax cuts permanent, and as you all know, we're continuing our fight to build the wall, and I am hard at work making certain that we hold our adversaries to account.”
At the top of that adversarial list is China, the focus of one of Blackburn's latest ads where she is seen breaking plates embossed with an image of the Chinese national flag.
“We're going to continue to break China and bring those jobs back to the United States and we are hard at work making certain that we keep men out of women's sports,” a reference to an ongoing transgender athlete debate, highlighted in part by Gallatin-native and former college swimmer turned Republican cheerleader Riley Gaines, who appeared in another Blackburn campaign ad.
Blackburn has also positioned herself staunchly behind Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas. Shortly after the attack, she called for an end to U.S. humanitarian aid for Palestinians.
In February, Blackburn joined Senate Republicans in blocking a bipartisan border security bill that had been negotiated for months and could have radically changed U.S. border security and immigration policy.
This week, she joined 13 other Republican senators, including fellow Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, in co-sponsoring the Visa Integrity Preservation Act, which aims to close a legal loophole that they argue was exploited by President Joe Biden when he issued an executive order earlier this year which could allow some half a million non-citizen family members of U.S. citizens to stay in the country legally.
She also introduced the Better Enforcement of Grievous Offenses by unNaturalized Emigrants (BE GONE) Act on Friday along with 18 other senators, including New York Democrat Kristen Gillibrand. The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to include sexual assault and aggravated sexual violence as aggravated felonies in the effort to deport sexual offenders and block those who seek to enter the U.S.
According to an October Beacon poll, Blackburn maintains a strong lead over her Democratic opponent Gloria Johnson, who is simultaneously running to retain her seat for District 90 in the state House of Representatives.
Blackburn defended her unwillingness to debate her opponent, who she called a “dishonest Democrat.”
While on stage at the GOP fundraiser, Blackburn didn't mention one of her biggest and most recent legislative accomplishments, the passage of the bipartisan Revising Existing Procedures on Reporting via Technology (REPORT) Act, which will strengthen online safeguards for children, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in May.
When she spoke with reporters, however, Blackburn did speak on her continuing work in the area of internet safety, including the Kids Online Safety Act.
“All of that will continue. Good legislation takes time, just like at the state level,” she said.
Tennessee’s senior senator also touched on her continuing work with cryptocurrencies as well as what she said is her goal to “break apart these global sex trafficking, human trafficking routes.”
She specifically reiterated her calls for the release of all of the private jet flight logs of disgraced financier and convicted sexual abuser Jeffery Epstein, who died in prison in 2019.
Many powerful people including both celebrities and politicians had public relationships with Epstein. Last week, a former model broke her decades-long silence and alleged that Trump groped her in front of Epstein in what she called a “coordinated” and “twisted game.”
It’s the latest allegation from more than a dozen women who have accused the former president of some form of sexual misconduct. Last year, Trump was found civilly liable of sexual assault.
Blackburn recognized domestic violence awareness month in October with a renewed focus on her 2023 Supporting the Abused by Learning Options to Navigate Survivor Stories (SALONS) Act, which aims to “amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to increase grants to combat domestic violence for States that implement domestic violence prevention training in the cosmetologist and barber licensing process, and for other purposes.”
She spoke about the SALONS Act with a Franklin stylist, salon owner and domestic violence survivor Susanne Shepherd Post in her podcast, “Unmuted with Marsha.” Post is the founder of Shear Haven, a domestic violence awareness education program for stylists.
Early voting ended this week on Oct. 31 with election day around the corner on Tuesday, Nov. 5. More information about voting in Williamson County can be found online here.
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