Dem
47
GOP
53
Tennessee is holding its primaries today. The 1796 state Constitution says primaries must be the first Thursday in August. Historians say there was no rationale for that. Maybe they decided it had to be on a day that started with "T," as in Tennessee, and they flipped a coin and Thursday won. Hawaii also shuns Tuesdays. Its primary is this Saturday.
There are not likely to be many surprises. Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) is running unopposed for the GOP nomination. Five Democrats, four of them Black, are on the ballot for the blue team's Senate nomination. One of them will win the primary and then be crushed in the general election. There will also be eight independents on the November ballot. It is amazing so many people are running against Hagerty since none of them have a snowball's chance in Hell of beating him.
A couple of House races are competitive. Rep. John Rose (R-TN) in TN-06 is running for governor, so there is a competitive primary with four candidates vying for the Republican nomination. TN-09 is a brand-new district, completely redrawn to get rid of Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN). It looks nothing like the old district and Cohen isn't even bothering to run. No Democrat could possibly win it. On the Republican side of that primary there are four candidates, including state Rep. Todd Warner and state Sen. Brent Taylor. Taylor has Donald Trump's endorsement and has raised the most money by far, so he is almost certain to be the new representative from TN-09.
More interesting is the gubernatorial election, in which Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is facing off against John Rose and state Rep. Monty Fritts. The Republican establishment is behind Blackburn and she is leading in the polls, but she is below 50% so a runoff is likely. The Mississippi born-and-bred Blackburn came in 4th in a high school beauty pageant and ran an event-management company after graduating from Mississippi State University. She hasn't done much else of note until she won an election to the Tennessee Senate in 1998. She is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but definitely the most conservative. If she is elected governor, her goal will probably be to make Tennessee into North Mississippi. Though note she still won't be the dumbest member of the National Governors Association, as Alabama inaugurates its governors on the same day as Tennessee does, so Blackburn will take over the big chair in her state at very nearly the same time that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) takes over the big chair in his. (V)