BRISTOL, Tenn. — Democratic nominee for governor Jerri Green made a Sunday stop in Bristol to meet voters, part of a swing through rural Tennessee as early voting gets underway for the Nov. 3 general election.
Green faces Republican nominee U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn along with 13 independent candidates. No woman has ever won the governor’s office in Tennessee, and Republicans have controlled it since 2011.
At the Bristol event, Green laid out what she would push for in her first days in office. Her list includes doing away with the state sales tax on groceries, ending Tennessee’s 287(g) partnership with federal immigration enforcement and pulling funding from the state school voucher program.
She also said she would use federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families money to wipe out medical debt and would rely on executive orders on reproductive rights, steps she said would not need approval from lawmakers.
Green is a former Memphis City Council member and once worked as a public defender in juvenile court. Blackburn served in the state Senate, represented the 7th Congressional District for 16 years and has been in the U.S. Senate since winning in 2018.
Roads are another issue the next governor will face. The Tennessee Department of Transportation puts the state’s backlog of unfunded road projects at $58 billion. Green has said she would legalize marijuana for medical and recreational use and tax cannabis sales to help pay for roads, bridges and transit. Blackburn has said she would start with a review aimed at cutting state waste and would look at options such as choice lanes to ease congestion.
Early voting in Tennessee continues through Oct. 29, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
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