TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Paul Burch on Sep 5, 2023

State Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, formally announced her bid for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday during campaign events in Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, reports KnoxNews. Johnson, 61, will attempt to unseat Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, 71, who was elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Reps. Justin Pearson and Sen. Charlane Oliver, D-Nashville, will serve as Johnson’s campaign co-chairs. Johnson's first stop this morning was near Central High School in Knoxville, where she formerly taught and experienced a school shooting in 2008. This evening she will speak in Memphis at the I Am A Man Plaza. Johnson will face off against community activist and organizer Marquita Bradshaw in the Democratic primary. Bradshaw won the Democratic Senate nomination in 2020 but lost to Republican Bill Hagerty. Johnson gained national attention after she was nearly expelled from the Tennessee General Assembly for protesting for gun reform on the House floor as part of the "Tennessee Three."