Former Lipscomb University professor launches bid for Tennessee governor

Lauren Pinkston, photographed in the Fainting Goat Coffee in Spring Hill on Nov. 20, is running for Tennessee governor as an independent candidate. (Photo: J. Holly McCall/Tennessee Lookout)

Former Lipscomb University professor Lauren Pinkston, who has spent her career researching human trafficking prevention and community development, will run for governor as an independent candidate. 

A first-time candidate, Pinkston, of Columbia, said she first considered running for the state legislature before eyeing the governor’s race.

“Knowing who is on the ballot on the Republican side, there are some really polarizing figures that people are not excited about,” she said. “There are a lot of Republicans who were raised like I was with a core set of values that they just don’t feel represented by their party anymore.”

Pinkston cited 2024 data from Gallup Poll showing 43% of Americans considered themselves as independent voters, affiliated with neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party. 

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Rep. John Rose and state Rep. Monty Fritts are vying for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, while Memphis City Councilperson Jerri Green is the most prominent of four Democrats running. Of the remaining Democrats, only one, Carnita Atwater,  has electoral experience, having run for Memphis mayor in 2023 and for governor in 2022. 

According to Ballotpedia, two other independent candidates are planning to run for governor in 2026. 

Independent candidates typically have not fared well in Tennessee’s gubernatorial races: In 2014, the late John Jay Hooker, an attorney from a prominent Nashville family, entrepreneur and one-time ally of Robert F. Kennedy, earned 2.3% of the vote in the general election. 

Pinkston acknowledged skepticism about her candidacy exists.

“A lot of independents are even more fringe than the extremes that we have, but there are a good number of us who are interested in breaking apart from the extremism we have and offering a solid path back to the middle ground,” she said.

Her campaign will focus on agriculture — one of the state’s largest industries — and education. 

“We live in a modern society, and so while we can have Tennessee first and America first policies, we don’t make those policies in a vacuum,” Pinkston said, addressing a crisis with Tennessee soybean farmers hit hard by the Trump administration’s tariffs. “I’m interested in talking to farmers about how we can brand products and sell products within our state to relieve the pressure of federal policies.”

Pinkston has a bachelor’s degree from Freed-Hardeman University and a Ph.D. from Clemson University. She taught in the Lipscomb University College of Business and has worked with the Freedom Business Alliance, an organization that works to end human trafficking through economic empowerment. 

She believes her message will resonate with Tennesseans.

“People are looking for a choice that they can vote for, rather than against,” Pinkston said. “Over the last decade or so people have felt so disenfranchised and feel unenthused with other options on the ballot, and this just feels like the right year to give people the choice they have been looking for.”

Pinkston will launch her campaign Saturday in three stops across the state, in Selmer, where she grew up, Columbia, and Chattanooga.