Knoxville state Rep. Gloria Johnson channels Tennessee Three activism into 2024 Senate bid

State Rep. Gloria Johnson is turning the attention from a joint act of political defiance as part of the Tennessee Three into a campaign for U.S. Senate.

Johnson, D-Knoxville, is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn. Johnson launched a campaign website Sept. 5 and made the announcement near Knoxville's Central High School, where she taught for years and lived through a 2008 school shooting. She plans to appear in Nashville and Memphis later today.

Johnson made gun reform her central platform after Tennessee House colleagues tried to oust her and fellow Democratic state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson after they took to the House floor to loudly call for gun reform after the deadly shooting of three children and three adults at Nashville's Covenant School in March. Johnson, Jones and Pearson garnered national attention and met with leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris.

"We're not saying, 'Take everyone's guns away.' What we're talking about is keeping guns out of the hands of folks who are a danger to themselves and others," she told Knox News.

She also thanked Republicans for the "gift" of recognition the Tennessee Three received, although she said she was planning to run for Senate before the conflict with state House Republicans took place.

"I think it will help as we run this race," she said.

After last month's special session on gun violence and mental health called by Gov. Bill Lee ended with no significant reform, Johnson said Tennesseans are more frustrated than ever with Republican lawmakers.

"I'm tired of Tennessee families being betrayed by those that represent them, over and over and over," she said.

Johnson, 61, faces an uphill battle. Tennessee hasn't been represented in the Senate by a Democrat since 1995, and in 2018, Blackburn beat former Gov. Phil Bredesen by nearly 11%. Bredesen was the last Democrat to win a statewide race.

In 2020, Donald Trump won the state with 61% of the vote for U.S. president even as he was defeated handily nationwide by Joe Biden.

Blackburn's campaign issued a statement after the Sept. 5 announcement linking Johnson to national Democrats such as President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

"Tennesseans deserve a United States senator who is committed to fighting for our conservative values," said Blackburn campaign spokesperson Abigail Sigler. "Sen. Blackburn will continue her record of getting things done and fighting for Tennessee families."

Johnson is motivated, she said, by the fact that a lot has changed since Blackburn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018, including the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of the constitutional right to an abortion in its Dobbs decision in June 2022. That decision has helped Democrats secure significant election victories in places where Republicans have typically fared well, including Kansas, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

"Republicans and Marsha Blackburn specifically ... have taken away equality for women," Johnson said. "When you take someone's bodily autonomy away, you have taken away equality."

Blackburn has been a vocal supporter of a federal abortion ban, introducing a bill to ban family planning grants for entities that perform abortions, including Planned Parenthood.

“Abortion providers have a long history of misappropriating taxpayer dollars to quietly fund the industry, and we must close those loopholes,” Blackburn said in a March news release. Blackburn also signed on to a brief in support of a Mississippi law preventing elective abortions after 15 weeks.

Blackburn is the first woman to represent Tennessee in the Senate. Though Blackburn has more than $5 million in campaign funds, Johnson said she isn't intimidated.

"What we're doing is building a multiracial, multigenerational coalition. We will not be divided," she said. "We will win because (Republicans) are really terrified of this type of coalition."

Johnson told Knox News her campaign will be focused on organizing people to vote.

"Sometimes, all the money in the world is not what gets you there. (It's) speaking to the people, and more importantly, it's listening to the people and listening to what they need."

Tennessee's voter turnout was been weak recently. In the 2022 midterm elections, fewer than half of registered voters cast a ballot, but Johnson said she thinks 2024 will be different.

"Some (people), if they're Republican, will whisper in my ear and say 'I'm voting differently this year,'" she said.

At Nashville's Centennial Park near the watchful bronze eyes of the Tennessee Woman’s Suffrage Monument, activists, city residents and even parents from the Covenant School packed the plaza in front of the Parthenon as Rep. Justin Jones introduced Johnson.

“It’s beautiful day to stand here with my dear sister, my best friend and a dear fighter for freedom in the state ‒ for all people,” he said. “Gloria has stood for our children in the schoolhouse, and for all people in the statehouse ‒ and we know she will be a fighter for everyday people in the U.S. Senate.”

Johnson named a number of her priorities, including women’s rights and gun legislation.

“We need to talk about women’s rights here. Women in Tennessee are no longer equal,” she said, to audible disapproval from the crowd. “Young girls are forced to carry a pregnancy for a rapist. And Marsha Blackburn wants to see a federal ban on abortion? Yet she’s talking about freedom? Freedom for who?”

After the event, Johnson told the USA TODAY Network-Tennessee that her biggest challenge would be to get voters to the polls.

“We want to work on getting absolutely everybody out to vote,” she said. “It's been wild; people are coming on eagerly. So we're just going to keep building that momentum and building the movement.”

Johnson is a retired special education teacher and a former Knox County Democratic Party chair. She was elected as a state representative in 2012 and lost reelection in 2014. She won back her seat in 2018 and won reelection in 2020, only to have her district lines redrawn by the GOP majority.

Johnson moved her home and won in the new district in 2022. She launched a Senate exploratory committee earlier this summer.

Also vying for Blackburn's seat are Marquita Bradshaw and Dylan Lee Fain.

While she hasn't filed with the Federal Election Commission, Bradshaw has launched her campaign's website and is asking for donations. She is a native Memphian, with a career and service that have spanned tax reform, social justice work and criminal justice reform, according to the site.

Fain has filed with the FEC, but has not launched a website.

Tennessean reporter Angele Latham contributed to this article.

Allie Feinberg covers politics for Knox News. Email: allison.feinberg@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson announces 2024 bid for Senate