Tennessee election results from Thursday primaries will decide nominees for governor and the new 9th District, with Republican Gov. Bill Lee term-limited and leaving an open statewide race. Voters in Tennessee are choosing between Marsha Blackburn, John Rose and Monty Fritts in the Republican gubernatorial primary, while Memphis voters are picking the first House nominees under a new map.
The Republican contest has drawn the most attention because Blackburn won reelection to a second U.S. Senate term in 2024, Rose launched his campaign in March 2025 and has loaned his campaign about $13 million since mid-June, and Blackburn has outraised Rose in campaign contributions. An outside group has spent roughly $5.1 million backing Blackburn and opposing Rose.
Bill Lee opens the field
Bill Lee’s term limit made the governor’s race open, and Tennessee has not elected a Democratic governor in 20 years. Five candidates are running in the Democratic primary, including Jerri Green, giving voters in Tennessee two separate nominating contests to settle before the November ballot takes shape.
Donald Trump has not endorsed a candidate in the gubernatorial primary, even though he backed Blackburn and Rose in their previous campaigns. The absence of that endorsement leaves the Republican field without the same outside alignment that shaped earlier races.
Memphis and the new 9th District
Memphis voters are choosing nominees under a new Republican-drawn congressional map that split Memphis into three Republican-dominated congressional districts. Steve Cohen ended his reelection bid shortly after the map was adopted, and the new 9th District now features Democratic candidates Justin Pearson, London Lamar and Jim Torino against Republican candidates Brent Taylor, Todd Warner, Jeremy Thompson and Charlotte Bergmann.
Jeremy Thompson is running as a retired Army sergeant and volunteer firefighter, a biography that gives the Republican primary another local profile in a crowded field. Taylor has outraised the rest of the combined field and has Donald Trump’s endorsement, while voters in the new 9th District supported Donald Trump for president in 2024 with about 60% of the vote.
Bill Hagerty and November
Bill Hagerty is seeking a second term and is the only candidate named on the Republican primary ballot. Five Democrats are running to challenge him in November, and the last Democrat to win one of Tennessee’s U.S. Senate seats was Al Gore in 1990.
That leaves the primaries to sort out two separate questions at once: which Republican and Democratic nominees will carry the governor’s race forward, and which candidates will emerge from the new Memphis-area district. The November ballot will show whether the party splits in Tennessee’s biggest contests hold or narrow after Thursday’s vote.
