It was almost 10 p.m. on Oct. 22 when Jerri Green, a Democratic nominee for governor of Tennessee, took the microphone at a special “Drag Marsha” show slamming her GOP rival, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
“When I set out to run for governor, nobody told me that I was going to get my own drag show,” Green quipped to a cheering audience. “I would have said yes earlier!”
A standing-room-only crowd packed around the bar as colorful lights flashed beneath a canopy of festive ghosts, skeletons and spider webs. The crowd held out dollar bills as the queens performed P!NK’s “What About Us?” and Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.”
Nashville drag queen Veronika Electronika, who played host at Trax 237, opened her act with a swing at Tennessee’s senior
senator.
“I was thinking, what could I do to make Ms. Blackburn proud?” Electronika said before dedicating a performance of Reba McEntire’s “Why Haven’t I Heard from You?” to the Republican nominee.
“Has Marsha called you? Has she not picked up the phone?” Electronika said. “Does she not know that there’s one… in the bedroom of every predatory island she might have been to?”
Green’s stop at Trax 237 comes after years of new laws passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature that have taken aim at the LGBTQ+ community. This year alone, lawmakers considered bills that would allowprivate citizens and organizations to stop recognizing same-sex marriage and a measure toban display of pride flags in all government buildings, then actually passed legislation requiring the state tocollect records of transgender patients' medical histories to create a public report as well as a measure that rolls back some workplace protections keeping employers from discriminating based on sexual orientation. Lawmakers also designated June, often celebrated as “Pride Month” as “Nuclear Family Month” in Tennessee.
In contrast, Green pledged to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community if she is elected governor.
“When they are passing some anti-woman, anti-Muslim, anti-gay, hate-filled legislation, know that Governor Green is going to veto it,” Green said. The audience cheered.
Showgoers lined up to get photos with Green and buy specialty t-shirts benefiting her campaign that read “Marsha is just Trump in a wig,” a nod to Swift’s critique of Blackburn in 2020.
“We are so close. We are closer than we’ve ever been in the last 20 years. We can take back Tennessee for the people,” Green said. “I actually talk to Tennesseans every day, and so I know that people are ready for change.”
Recent polling shows Green trailing Blackburn by between two and 12 percentage points.
“Marsha Blackburn’s brought our great orange leader to our state to try to beat me,” Green said. “The reason she’s having to bring him here… is because we’re going to win.”
Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jerri Green pledges to support LGBTQ+ community at ‘Drag Marsha’ show
