Tennessee just chose its Republican and Democratic nominees under one set of election rules while beginning congressional voting under another. Blackburn wants tighter party control over primaries and openly supported the 2026 Republican congressional redraw. Pinkston wants mapmaking removed from legislators. Green’s current platform leaves several of those questions unanswered.
Nashville, Tenn – Tennessee voters settled one question Thursday.
Marsha Blackburn won the Republican nomination for governor, and Jerri Green won the Democratic nomination. Lauren Pinkston, running as an independent, did not participate in either party primary and is among the independent candidates qualified for the Nov. 3 ballot.
But beneath the names on the ballot is another question:
Who should control the rules that determine how Tennesseans choose them?
The three candidates are beginning to offer very different answers.
Blackburn: Close the primaries — and use redistricting politically
Tennessee is often described as having “open primaries,” but the law is slightly more complicated.
The state does not currently maintain permanent party registration in the way many closed-primary states do. Tennessee law instead requires someone seeking a party’s primary ballot to be affiliated with that party or declare allegiance and an intention to affiliate with it.
Blackburn wants that changed.
Days before the primary, Blackburn said she would work with lawmakers as governor to require party registration and close Tennessee’s primaries, arguing that voters from one party should not influence another party’s nomination contest.
Lawmakers already considered a version of that idea.
An amendment to SB 777/HB 886 would have added political-party affiliation to
