The question I posed recently in this space - Can Tennessee elect an Independent Governor? - continues to stir among the political class. My shorthand answer was “Normally no, but this year maybe.” With less than 10 weeks remaining before Election Day, why is this?
For starters, there still has not been any discussion of the issues Tennesseans are facing: public health, data centers, gun violence, whether the state government will continue to fund private schools. Most politicians I have known would jump at the chance to engage with voters and invite discussion and dialogue with constituents. In Tennessee, over my lifetime, this enthusiasm has always been part of the serious business and good sport of seeking public office – the eagerness to run,
serve and make public policy.
A statewide campaign is no place for faint hearts.
The non-race for governor
The normal sort of energy has, so far, been absent in this year's non-race for governor. Nobody challenges anybody. It’s become a race to the bottom that insults the intelligence of voters. No citizen is served by this arrogant silence, but no one among the state’s traditional opinion leaders (e.g., newspaper publishers) is pushing for engaged discussion either.
Consider the deeper story at present with just 10 weeks to go:
1. The media-anointed front-runner (Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn) continues to prefer the shade trees, because there’s less summer heat there. She declines anything resembling a candidate debate or community meeting, preferring to repeat her lame talking point (“We’re talking to Tennesseans every single day.”), although no news cameras have caught her doing so. The best-kept secret in some Republican circles is how many party elders don’t care for what’s become of Blackburn’s career – how she has jumped, as now, from one public office to the next, giving rise to a “Blackburn fatigue” – and how some of them find some of her recent public utterances downright cringeworthy. Those factors, together with a war chest awash in special-interest money, make for a thin campaign that’s a mile wide but a half-inch deep.
2. Running against Blackburn as the Democratic Party nominee that nobody knows is Memphis lawyer Jerri Green. I heard her speak at the “No Kings Day” event in Nashville, and she was impressive. But there seems to be no capability inside the Tennessee Democratic Party apparatus for winning an election anymore.
3. Meanwhile, 13 Tennesseans have qualified as Independents to run for governor this election. Twelve of them seem to have little funding and no clue. The other is Lauren Pinkston of Columbia, who seems to be making a serious go of it. Her campaign was active last week with events in Knoxville, Cookeville and Murfreesboro.
Some in the Tennessee media seem to take Blackburn’s adamant refusal to “debate” her opponents as the end of the story, believing that she will be the next governor, in spite of everything.
Not necessarily.
A different path forward
There may still be time for Green (and perhaps Pinkston also) to put away the “debate” dialogue, in favor of having a civil televised “conversation” together with Blackburn. These events could be held in school auditoriums or church basements across maybe a dozen towns, hosted by local news media. Blackburn may get away with blowing off this concept too, but it’s worth a try – and it might be revealing.
To me, it’s noteworthy that only women are left standing in this run to be our next governor. It creates a cool dynamic for these remaining 10 weeks of the contest.
I remember in 2016 when Blackburn ran against the former Gov. Phil Bredesen. Some on her side suggested that any negative critique he made could be blamed on sexism. This suggestion was poppycock then, but in 2026 there are no males left standing anyway.
What voters deserve to hear
Meanwhile, all those real issues that worry Tennesseans merit a conversation now, with a keen eye on the next four years. Tennesseans ought to hear now from any candidate who wants the assignment of transacting them in the next governor’s term. But they are the questions nobody is asking as yet, so we all stumble forward.
The choice of Tennessee’s next governor ought not to be covered like a horse race. It should be probed, understood and reported deeply.
Sleepwalking to the state capitol, with neither daylight nor discussion to guide us, is the one behavior that serves nobody, including whichever woman will be our governor next.
Keel Hunt is the author of “Coup: The Day the Democrats Ousted Their Governor” (2013, Vanderbilt University Press) and other books on Tennessee’s political history. Read more at KeelHunt.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN governor's race sleepwalks past the issues that matter | Opinion
