{"id":2022974,"date":"2023-09-06T02:28:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T06:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tennessee-three-state-rep-gloria-johnson-challenging-sen-marsha-blackburn-in-2024\/"},"modified":"2023-09-06T02:29:26","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T06:29:26","slug":"tennessee-three-state-rep-gloria-johnson-challenging-sen-marsha-blackburn-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tennessee-three-state-rep-gloria-johnson-challenging-sen-marsha-blackburn-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Gloria Johnson of Tennessee is set to challenge Sen. Marsha Blackburn in 2024."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftennessee-three-state-rep-gloria-johnson-challenging-sen-marsha-blackburn-in-2024%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2022974&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<p>Seeking to capitalize on the\u2064 media attention\u200c received this year after nearly being expelled from the Tennessee House\u2063 of Representatives as a member of\u2064 the &#8220;Tennessee\u200b Three,&#8221; Democrat state Rep. Gloria Johnson launched\u2062 her\u2064 campaign for \u200bthe \u2062U.S. Senate \u2063on\u2064 Tuesday, Sept. 5.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. \u200cJohnson kicked off her\u2064 campaign with an official launch in Nashville\u2064 on Tuesday afternoon, following a smaller announcement in\u2064 her \u2062hometown\u200d of Knoxville, ending\u200c months of speculation on whether she would run.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. \u2062Johnson will attempt to unseat first-term Republican U.S.\u2063 Sen. Marsha \u200bBlackburn, the first female senator in the state\u2019s history. \u200cTennessee\u2063 hasn\u2019t been represented by a Democrat\u2064 in the U.S. Senate since 1995.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\" id=\"in_article_related_stories\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/gov-newsom-to-address-tennessee-democrats-honor-tennessee-three-5474677\">Gov. Newsom to Address Tennessee Democrats, Honor &#8216;Tennessee Three&#8217;<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/18\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/gov-newsom-to-address-tennessee-democrats-honor-tennessee-three-5474677\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/member-of-tennessee-three-takes-step-toward-challenging-gop-sen-marsha-blackburn-5478471\">Member of &#8216;Tennessee Three&#8217; Takes Step Toward Challenging GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/22\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/member-of-tennessee-three-takes-step-toward-challenging-gop-sen-marsha-blackburn-5478471\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>In 2018, Ms. \u200cBlackburn defeated\u200c popular former \u2064Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen, the last Democrat to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/martel-new-jersey-race-proves-republicans-engaging-deep-blue-areas-works\/\" title=\"Martel: New Jersey Race Proves Republicans Engaging Deep Blue Areas Works\">win statewide office<\/a> in Tennessee, by nearly 11 points. Bredesen won two terms\u2062 as governor in the \u2063state, carrying all of the state\u2019s 95 counties in his reelection campaign, a sign of the \u2063shifting tides in Tennessee politics over the past decade.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Tennessee \u200dThree&#8217; Fame<\/h2>\n<p>Ms. Johnson and two other Democrat\u2064 state representatives\u2062 were the\u2063 subject of controversy and\u200b expulsion votes after they \u2062disrupted proceedings of\u2062 the state\u2062 House of Representatives\u2064 in \u2063March to call for gun control just \u200ddays after a shooting at a Nashville Christian school killed three \u200dchildren and three\u200c adults.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>She was the only member of the &#8220;Tennessee Three&#8221;\u200b to survive expulsion, remaining \u2063in\u200c the chamber by only\u200c one vote. \u2063Despite\u2063 being spared expulsion, she enjoyed the \u200dsame benefits \u200bas the \u2063two expelled lawmakers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tennessee-three-state-rep-gloria-johnson-challenging-sen-marsha-blackburn-in-2024\/\" title=\"Rep. Gloria Johnson of Tennessee is set to challenge Sen. Marsha Blackburn in 2024.\">including countless media appearances<\/a>, invitations\u2062 to the White House, and a private audience with the \u200dpresident and vice \u200bpresident.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left:0;margin-right:0;max-width:1200px\">\n<figure style=\"width:640px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Tennessee\u2062 state Reps. Gloria Johnson (L),\u200b Justin Jones (C), \u2063and\u200c Justin \u2062Pearson arrive at\u2062 Fisk University\u200b in Nashville, Tenn., \u200bon April 7, \u20622023,\u200d where they met with Vice President Kamala\u200b Harris. (Andrew Nelles\/The Tennessean via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>At her campaign launch\u200c in Nashville, she was introduced by one of those \u2064members, Rep.\u200b Justin Jones of Nashville. The other member \u2062of the three, Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis,\u200b is a co-chair of her campaign alongside \u2062a\u200d Democrat state senator.<\/p>\n<h2>Women\u2019s \u200bRights a Focus\u200d of Campaign<\/h2>\n<p>Ms. Johnson, in her remarks\u2064 in Nashville,\u200c drew\u200c focus to women&#8217;s rights, standing in \u200bfront of \u2062a women\u2019s suffrage monument as she\u200b spoke. There, she claimed that Tennessee women have been \u200cstripped of their equality under Ms. Blackburn\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shortcode post-related-videos\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>She went on\u2062 to criticize Ms. \u2063Blackburn&#8217;s stance on \u200dabortion and \u2064her voting record on issues such as the Violence Against Women Act and equal pay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve got to talk about\u2064 women&#8217;s rights,\u201d she\u2064 told the crowd. \u201cWe&#8217;ve got to talk about the fact that in Tennessee, women are no longer equal. \u2026 \u200cMarsha Blackburn wants to see a federal ban on abortion. Yet she&#8217;s talking\u2063 about freedom? Freedom \u200dfor who? Not us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She went\u200b on to criticize Ms. Blackburn \u200das not supporting women\u2062 and only having an \u200binterest in \u201cbillionaires and\u200c corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>\u201cWe have a senator who doesn&#8217;t stand \u200dwith women, \u200bever. [She] votes against the \u200bViolence [Against] Women&#8217;s Act, votes against equal pay, votes against \u2063women constantly. \u200bTennessee deserves \u2063better. Hardworking Tennesseeans need someone. These families need someone that will fight for them.\u200b Not just the billionaires and corporations and the \u200bwealthy\u200b and well \u2063connected.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Gun Control<\/h2>\n<p>The \u200crepresentative took a\u2064 firm stance on gun legislation, advocating for new gun laws, and spoke out against the idea of arming teachers, \u2064saying, &#8220;We want \u2064to prevent guns from ever getting on schoolhouse property.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>In a video <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VoteGloriaJ\/status\/1699093750318870941?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announcement<\/a> released Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Johnson opens the campaign ad with\u200b security footage from the March 27 Covenant School \u2064shooting in Nashville, in\u2064 which the \u2062shooter blasts through the glass\u200c doors before walking inside.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhen will enough be enough,\u201d Ms. Johnson asked in her video, following the \u200bscenes of the attack on The Covenant School. \u201cWhen will we elect leaders with the \u2064courage to stand up for us? Instead\u2063 of a bunch of bullies and cowards \u200dwho only do what their party says.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said she \u201cknows fighting\u200b for justice\u200d has a cost,\u201d stating she\u2062 had\u2062 to sleep in the hallway instead of her bedroom as a child to \u201cavoid being shot\u201d because her \u201cdad\u200c had the courage \u2064to bring the KKK to\u200b justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd when my\u2064 friends and\u200d I believed mothers and fathers who lost children at Covenant deserved a \u200dvoice and \u2064we\u2063 fought\u2063 for it\u2014they expelled them,\u201d she said\u2064 in\u200c her video. \u201cI&#8217;m \u2063not a politician, but I did beat one to become\u200b a \u2063state House member. Those politicians, they\u200b don&#8217;t like me much, because I speak my mind.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left:0;margin-right:0;max-width:1200px\">\n<figure style=\"width:640px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Audrey Hale points a gun inside The Covenant School in\u2064 Nashville, \u200bTenn., on March\u2064 27, 2023. (Nashville Police Department\u200d via The Epoch \u2062Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In her smaller announcement event Tuesday morning, Ms. Johnson stood in front of Central High School in Knoxville, \u2064a school where she once taught.<\/p>\n<p>She recalled a traumatic day in 2008 when a student was killed in a shooting\u2064 at the school, adding a personal touch to her staunch support for gun control legislation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ll never forget that day sitting\u200c in my classroom,\u201d\u200d she said. \u201cAs the kids were in the cafeteria having \u2063breakfast before bell, I heard a lot of screaming. And I \u200dlooked\u2064 out my window and there \u2062were kids running down the\u2063 hill, towards my\u2062 classroom,\u2063 screaming \u200bwith\u2062 terror on their faces. They had just seen one of their classmates shot in the cafeteria.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Jones Joins Johnson<\/h2>\n<p>Mr. Jones fervently supported Ms. Johnson, applauding what he called her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-lgbtq-pride-products-carried-by-retailers-this-year\/\" title=\"5 LGBTQ \u2018Pride\u2019 Products Carried By Retailers This Year\">long-standing commitment<\/a> to fighting for justice, her support for medicaid expansion,\u2064 higher wages,\u200b and her \u200dstance on \u200bgun\u2063 control.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;People are sick and \u2062tired and they&#8217;re looking for fighters like Gloria Johnson,&#8221;\u200d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>\u201cGloria has stood \u200bfor our children \u2062in the school house, \u200cfor all Tennesseans in the state house, and we know that [she] will be a fighter for\u200b everyday people in\u200c the U.S. Senate,&#8221; \u2062he said. &#8220;We know that there are\u2064 those who \u2062are occupying seats now who stand for \u2063the powerful\u2064 as opposed \u2064to the poor. There are those who stand for special interests as opposed to the interests\u2064 of everyday citizens. And today, we\u2064 send a clear message to all of\u200b them\u2014we<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrat state Rep. Gloria Johnson, part of the &#8220;Tennessee Three,&#8221; seized media attention after almost being expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives. She capitalized on this by launching her U.S. Senate campaign on Sept. 5, with an official launch event in Nashville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1627,"featured_media":2022975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2022974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2022974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2022974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2022974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2022975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2022974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2022974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2022974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}