Jackson, Tennessee sample ballot 2026

Bill Hagerty is Tennessee's incumbent U.S. senator and the Republican nominee for re-election, unopposed on August 6 with all 629,068 votes cast, per the Tennessee Division of Elections. A former U.S. ambassador to Japan and private-sector executive, he has emphasized border security, taxes, regulation, national security, energy, judicial nominations, and support for conservative economic policy.

• Voted yes on the 2025 Republican tax-and-spending package, which passed the Senate 51-50. Supported
• Voted against the Democratic climate, health-care, and tax package. Opposed
• Voted against codifying federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. Opposed
• Uses his Senate role and ambassador experience to emphasize Indo-Pacific policy, China competition, defense, and national security. Supported

Marquita Bradshaw is a Memphis environmental-justice organizer who serves as executive director of Sowing Justice and as environmental justice chair of the Sierra Club's Tennessee chapter, per her campaign site. A South Memphis native and University of Memphis alumna who raised her son as a single mother on a working-class salary, she has organized with the Defense Depot Memphis Concerned Citizens Committee, the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center, and as the Memphis NAACP's climate and justice chair. She is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, having won the August 6 Democratic contest with 54.79% (186,154 votes) in a five-way field, per the Tennessee Division of Elections.

Robert Jones, a small business owner and nonprofit executive director from Jonesborough, is running as an independent for U.S. Senate, per his Local Candidates campaign profile. His campaign site says he will not accept campaign donations and that money will not buy his support.

Marsha Blackburn is Tennessee's senior U.S. senator, elected in 2018 as the first woman the state has sent to the Senate, per her campaign site. She entered public service in 1995 as executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission, won a Tennessee State Senate seat in 1998 where she led a grassroots campaign against a proposed state income tax, and later represented Middle and West Tennessee in the U.S. House. She is the Republican nominee for governor, having won the August 6 Republican contest with 43.55% (311,328 votes) in a three-way field, per the Tennessee Division of Elections.

• Voted yes on final Senate passage of the children's online safety package in July 2024, having been an original cosponsor of the underlying Kids Online Safety Act. Supported
• Voted no on the bill repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and codifying federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages. Opposed
• Voted no on confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court in April 2022. Opposed

Jerri Green is an attorney who represents District 2 on the Memphis City Council, elected in November 2023, and who the city's official council roster also lists as Shelby County's Chief Public Defender. She previously ran the Community Legal Center, which provides legal services to Memphians who cannot afford them, and served Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris as senior policy advisor and deputy chief of staff, where her work included a free gun-lock-by-mail program and a living wage for county employees, per the council roster and her campaign site. She is the Democratic nominee for governor, having won the August 6 Democratic contest with 69.05% (244,194 votes) in a five-way field, per the Tennessee Division of Elections.

Hatley grew up in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and started his first business at age twelve, opening his first retail store at eighteen, per the campaign site. He has built nine companies over 30 years, creating about 750 Tennessee jobs across manufacturing, industrial, retail and hospitality sectors, and holds 11 patents, per the campaign site. His company is described on the site as the top hot tub manufacturer in America, per the campaign site.

Lauren Pinkston is an independent candidate for Tennessee governor and former Lipscomb University professor. Her campaign presents a nonpartisan alternative focused on education, democracy, health care, public trust, and building a broader coalition outside the major-party primary system.

Robert C. Vick, whose certified name prints with the middle initial, is an independent candidate for Tennessee governor and educator. His campaign presents a faith-centered, independent message focused on education, families, public safety, and leadership outside the Republican and Democratic primary contests.

Misam Abidi, a Pakistani-American businessman with a background in retail, banking and emerging technology, is running as an independent for Tennessee governor, per his campaign site. His campaign describes itself as being about restoring balance between institutions and the citizens they serve, not left versus right.