Tennessee’s US Sen. Blackburn seeks reelection against Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee voters will decide whether to reelect Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn to a second term or choose Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson.

Tennessee hasn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide position in nearly two decades, but Johnson is hoping her recent meteoric rise to fame from nearly being expelled by state lawmakers last year will woo enough voters.

Blackburn has run a much more subdued campaign compared to six years ago, when an open seat forced a heated race between the Republican and former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen. Blackburn has largely avoided Johnson throughout the campaign and declined to participate in any debates with the Democrat.

Johnson gained national attention when she joined fellow Democratic state Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones as they walked to the front of the House floor with a bullhorn while hundreds of gun control advocates flooded the Capitol to show their support for putting more restrictions on firearms. The demonstration took place just days after a school shooting that killed 6 people, including three young children, at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville.

The violation of House protocols sparked outrage among Republican lawmakers, who demanded they be expelled — a punishment that had been used only a handful of times since Reconstruction.

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The showdown between the Democratic lawmakers and the Republican supermajority attracted national attention, amplifying the profiles of the group — dubbed the “Tennessee Three” — across the U.S.

Johnson, 62, has been a critic of Blackburn’s policy positions, arguing that most Tennesseans want “common sense gun legislation” and better access to reproductive care. While on the campaign trail, Johnson also shared her own story of needing an abortion to save her life in light of Tennessee enacting a sweeping abortion ban that includes only a handful of narrow exemptions. Johnson has stressed that she likely would not have been able to make that same choice under the state’s current ban.

Blackburn, 72, has opposed gun control measures throughout her political career and has deflected questions about whether she supports a national ban on abortion, saying that she supports the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion and that the issue should be left to voters. Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, she repeatedly voted to advance a bill that would have banned abortion at 20 weeks.

Blackburn’s 2018 win marked the first time a woman had been elected in Tennessee as a U.S. senator.