Marsha Blackburn Bio
Mary Marsha Blackburn (née Wedgeworth; born June 6, 1952) is an American politician and businesswoman serving as the senior United States senator from Tennessee. A member of the Republican Party, she represents Tennessee in the U.S. Senate and is a prominent ally of President Donald Trump.
Blackburn first entered Congress in 2003 representing Tennessee’s 7th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives and served there until 2019. On November 6, 2018, she became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, defeating former Governor Phil Bredesen. She won a second Senate term in 2024 and, in August 2025, announced her candidacy for governor of Tennessee in 2026.
Early Life and Background
Marsha Wedgeworth was born in Laurel, Mississippi, to Mary Jo (Morgan) Wedgeworth and Hilman Wedgeworth, who worked in sales and management. She grew up in Mississippi and attended Mississippi State University on a 4-H scholarship, earning a Bachelor of Science in home economics in 1974. During college, she was elected both secretary and president of the Associated Women Students at Mississippi State University, showing early signs of leadership.
In 1973, before graduating, Blackburn worked as a sales manager for the Times Mirror Company. After college, she continued building a career in business and, in 1978, became the owner of Marketing Strategies, a promotion and event management firm she continued to run for decades. Her Mississippi upbringing and small-business background shaped the conservative outlook she would later carry into politics.
Path to US Politics
Blackburn’s entry into public life began at the local level in Tennessee. She was a founding member of the Williamson County Young Republicans and served as chair of the Williamson County Republican Party from 1989 to 1991. In 1992, she ran for Congress in Tennessee’s 6th congressional district, losing to incumbent Bart Gordon, and was a delegate to the 1992 Republican National Convention.
From 1995 to 1997, she served as executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment, and Music Commission under Governor Don Sundquist. She then won election to the Tennessee Senate in 1998, serving from 1999 to 2003 and rising to the position of minority whip. In 2000, she took part in the effort to block a state income tax, establishing herself as a tax-averse conservative voice in Tennessee politics.
Marsha Blackburn Career
Early Career (2003–2006)
In 2002, redistricting moved Blackburn’s home from Tennessee’s 6th district into the 7th district, creating a gerrymandered seat that stretched from eastern Memphis to southwest Nashville. She won the Republican primary by nearly 20 percentage points and went on to defeat Democratic nominee Tim Barron with 70 percent of the vote in the general election. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Tennessee who did not succeed her husband and the fourth woman elected to Congress from the state overall.
During her early House years, Blackburn served as an assistant whip from 2003 to 2005 and then as deputy whip from 2005 onward. She quickly aligned with the party’s conservative wing, voting for constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage in 2004 and 2006 and building a record on regulatory and cultural issues that would define her tenure.
Tennessee’s 7th District Era (2003–2018)
Blackburn was reelected seven times from Tennessee’s 7th congressional district, becoming one of the most recognizable conservatives in the House. The National Journal rated her among the chamber’s most conservative members, and GovTrack later estimated she was the most ideologically conservative senator in 2019. She was a senior advisor on Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign before resigning to endorse Fred Thompson.
She chaired the Republican-led Select Investigative Panel in 2016 examining fetal tissue research, and earlier managed House debate on a 2013 bill to ban most abortions after 22 weeks. Blackburn also drew attention for co-sponsoring a 2016 law that loosened the standard the Drug Enforcement Administration used to suspend opioid shipments, a measure critics say hampered DEA enforcement against drug distributors.
U.S. Senate Era (2019–Present)
Blackburn was sworn in as a U.S. senator on January 3, 2019, becoming the first woman to represent Tennessee in the Senate. Upon Senator Lamar Alexander’s retirement in January 2021, she became Tennessee’s senior senator, and after Congressman Jim Cooper retired in 2023, she became the dean of Tennessee’s congressional delegation. She won reelection in 2024 with 63.8 percent of the vote against state Representative Gloria Johnson in the state’s first all-woman Senate general election.
In the Senate, Blackburn has championed conservative judicial confirmations, border security, and online safety. She introduced the bipartisan Open App Markets Act with Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar and co-authored the Kids Online Safety Act. She voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020 and voted against confirming Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022. She also authored The Mind of a Conservative Woman: Seeking the Best for Family and Country, published in September 2020.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among her defining moments, Blackburn’s 2018 Senate victory made her the first woman elected to the upper chamber from Tennessee, and her 2024 reelection in the state’s first all-woman Senate general election cemented that legacy. In August 2022, she led a congressional delegation to Taiwan and met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, voicing support for the island as an independent nation. In January 2025, she celebrated the signing of the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Location Act, highlighting Tennessee’s role in ratifying the 19th Amendment.
Marsha Blackburn Career Wins
Blackburn has compiled a long record of electoral victories across Tennessee, beginning with her state Senate win in 1998 and continuing through eight U.S. House wins, her 2018 Senate victory, and her 2024 Senate reelection. Her campaigns have routinely carried most of Tennessee’s counties, reflecting her durable support among Republican voters.
Election Highlights
Blackburn’s first congressional win came in 2002, when she captured 70 percent of the vote in Tennessee’s 7th district. Her most notable victory was her 2018 Senate win against Phil Bredesen with 54.7 percent of the vote, making her the first woman elected U.S. senator from Tennessee. In her 2024 reelection, she defeated Gloria Johnson with 63.8 percent of the vote, carrying all but two counties in the state.
Other Achievements
Beyond elections, Blackburn served as the 2024 chairperson for the Republican National Committee’s official party platform and has been a leading voice on technology, telecommunications, and child-safety policy. She authored a 2020 book on conservative principles and led a high-profile congressional delegation to Taiwan in 2022.
Marsha Blackburn Family
Family Background and Upbringing
Marsha was raised in Laurel, Mississippi, by her father Hilman Wedgeworth and her mother Mary Jo (Morgan) Wedgeworth. Her parents worked in sales and management, and her Southern, small-business upbringing shaped her conservative values and her later career in promotion and event management.
Personal Life
Marsha married Chuck Blackburn in 1974, and the couple has two children. They reside in Brentwood, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville in Williamson County. Blackburn is a Presbyterian and a member of Christ Presbyterian Church, and she is also a member of The C Street Family, a congressional prayer group.