Stockard on the Stump: Tennessee gubernatorial candidate bucking for debate

Items in rearview mirror are closer than they appear: U.S. Rep. John Rose looks on as U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn speaks Monday during a Future Farmers of America breakfast. The two are vying for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2026. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

With a year to go in Tennessee’s gubernatorial primary race, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn appears to own the polling numbers over U.S. Rep. John Rose, holding a 52-point advantage in one survey.

Coffee shop talk says she’s a shoo-in.

(Wait a second, Rose’s campaign is claiming he beat Blackburn handily in a Lawrence County Reagan Day dinner straw poll.)

Regardless of whether these polls are worth their weight in Moon Pies, the bigger question is whether the state’s senior U.S. senator will consider Rose a realistic opponent and agree to go head-to-head on a debate stage?

Rose told the Lookout at a Future Farmers of America event in Lebanon this week he is “absolutely” ready to debate Blackburn. Asked if she agreed, he said, “Sounds like she doesn’t want to.”

Blackburn, who spoke at the event’s press conference headlined by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, along with Rose and other Tennessee officials, declined to take questions afterward, choosing to wander away from this reporter and let a flack do the blocking. In making her gubernatorial announcement earlier this month, she also sent out a text message and an online statement but didn’t make herself available to the press.

Rose, in contrast, held his initial confab at the same Wilson County fairgrounds on a nippy March day and answered a few questions afterward, even if he wasn’t enthused about talking.

Granted, Rose is a heavy underdog, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to get an edge. 

No doubt, he was also grinning ear to ear and Blackburn was cringing when Secretary Rollins told the audience she agreed to speak at the FFA ham breakfast just so Rose would quit texting her constantly. 

Will Blackburn stand for such outrage?

She has $4.4 million in her federal campaign account, money that can’t be used for the state race. The Tennessee Journal reports a committee called Team Tennessee raised $676,000 this year to back Blackburn but that a joint federal fundraising account is nearly empty after she shelled out money to a fundraising consultant, transferred a chunk to her Senate campaign, a state political action committee and her strategic team. Another Blackburn PAC, Making a Responsible Stand for Households in America, received $905,000 from her Senate account and is doling out money across Tennessee.

Tennessee gubernatorial candidate touts $6.1M campaign war chest

Rose, whose net worth is much greater than Blackburn’s, reported he made a $5 million loan to his campaign and raised another $1.1 million from donors. He hasn’t started churning out TV ads and mailers, raising questions about whether he’s sitting on the money.

It might be time, though, for Blackburn to take him seriously, which could mean getting into a political debate. She fared well against former Gov. Phil Bredesen in their U.S. Senate race forum in 2018, and butting heads with Rose would give her the chance to ask him why he voted against certifying the Biden election, in addition to signing on to written documents of objection to the outcome. Blackburn voted to certify the election, a reluctant move in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection by Trump zealots. 

Oops, that might not be the right issue to raise, considering the president pardoned all of the rioters in spite of the subsequent deaths of multiple U.S. Capitol police officers, some of whom committed suicide. The vote also could come into play in a Trump decision to endorse, which would effectively end the race.

It’s a political crap shoot. Then again, most debates are a little risky.

Going for the gusto?

After six years of leading private prison operator CoreCivic, Damon Hininger is stepping down as president and chief executive officer, leading to the appointment of Patrick Swindle to head the company.

CoreCivic runs four of Tennessee’s 12 prisons and remains in good stead with Gov. Bill Lee and the Department of Correction in spite of a federal civil rights investigation into conditions at Trousdale Turner. 

Tennessee levied $44.78 million in penalties against private prison operator in three years

In addition to that probe, West Tennessee residents are raising questions about CoreCivic signing a contract with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use a Tipton County facility for immigrant detention as part of Trump’s deportation effort.

Hininger, who spoke last year at Republicans’ Statesmen’s Dinner, was rumored to be considering a gubernatorial run at the time. That could be a little farfetched now, but questions remain about the potential for a U.S. Senate candidacy with Blackburn running for governor. 

Stepping down from the CoreCivic post would eliminate conflicts of interest for Hininger. He declined to answer Lookout questions this week about taking a shot at either political post.

So much for equality

Tennessee is spending more per student to send kids to private schools this year than for those going to public schools, according to a Chalkbeat report.

Under the state’s new private-school voucher program, some 20,000 students are receiving $7,295 each to attend private schools, compared to $7,023 for public school students. The numbers were revealed in a state school board meeting last week, Chalkbeat reported, drawing criticism from the Tennessee Education Association and Democrats.

Tennessee won’t know how many new vouchers go to existing private school students

It’s up to local governments to raise the ante and pour more into schools, as has been the case for decades.

During debate on the bill this year, the state’s projections showed 66% of those receiving the voucher money would be enrolled in private schools already. Education officials told legislators this week the law didn’t require the department to track that number through student applications.

Next year, though, the question will be on applications. Considering most of the seats are taken by private-school students already, will it tell us anything new? Highly unlikely.

Why not here?

This comes from the reader mailbag.

Following Gov. Lee’s decision to deploy Tennessee National Guard soldiers to Washington, D.C., at Trump’s request to cull crime in the capital city, at least one person wants to know why he’s sending troops there when Nashville and Memphis have higher rates of property crimes and violent incidents. Why is no one pressuring Lee to deploy troops to the streets of Tennessee’s two biggest and bluest cities?

It sounds like a sarcastic query. But the answer is: Considering the Tennessee Guard is already helping ICE with logistics and paperwork, don’t give them any bright ideas.

“Put out the fire, and don’t look past my shoulder.” *

*The Who, “Baba O’Riley”