Tennessee hosts first gubernatorial forum in eight years. GOP frontrunner no-shows

Three of the four major Tennessee gubernatorial candidates appeared at a forum one week before the 2026 election and answered questions on a range of topics, including private school vouchers, data centers and toll lanes. 

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican nominee and favorite to win the race, declined to participate in the forum, continuing a trend among Tennessee GOP candidates of avoiding appearing on stage against their campaign opponents.

Democratic candidate Jerri Green and independent candidate David Hatley both attacked Blackburn at the forum hosted by the Tennessee Press Association and Middle Tennessee State University on the school’s Murfreesboro campus.

Green, a Memphis city councilmember, said it was a shame the only other candidate with a “path to victory” wouldn’t debate. 

“I’m the only candidate on this stage that won a primary,” Green said.

The press association invited Blackburn, Green, Hatley and Lauren Pinkston, another independent candidate. Blackburn was the only one of the four who declined the invitation.

Hatley is a Washington County hot tub mogul running as a “conservative.” He has put nearly $12 million of his own money into the campaign and refuses to take donations. Hatley is trying to find a lane where he can get enough votes to win without splitting the conservative vote, which could allow Green to win the governor’s race with a plurality.

In his closing remarks, Hatley attacked Green for not supporting the Memphis Safe Task Force and criticized Blackburn for allowing campaign donors to “buy the governor’s office.”

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Pinkston is running as a moderate, emphasizing that most voters don’t affiliate with a political party and are fed up with the two-party system. 

Blackburn also refused to debate her Republican gubernatorial primary opponents earlier this year and didn’t debate during her 2024 U.S. Senate reelection campaign. U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty hasn’t debated in either of his U.S. Senate campaigns. Gov. Bill Lee refused to debate his Democratic Party opponent in 2022. 

The last time Tennessee held debates for statewide offices was in 2018, when Lee debated former Democratic Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Blackburn took the stage with former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen in their U.S. Senate race. 

Whoever becomes Tennessee’s next governor will face a range of policy decisions

America’s leading artificial intelligence companies started hiring lobbyists earlier this year, ahead of the 2027 legislative session and amid growing backlash to data centers.

The debate over data center expansion has led some local communities to impose construction moratoriums because they worry it’s driving up electricity prices and has negative environmental impacts.

Lawmakers and the next governor are likely to debate whether to pass a state law that preempts local moratoriums on data center construction, paving the way for more. Officials could also look into repealing the generous tax incentives the state offers data centers. 

Green said she would go the other way and implement a statewide moratorium on data center construction, adding that she fought the construction of XAI’s data center in Memphis.

“Elon Musk and his like need to go,” Green said, referring to the CEO of the company that owns XAI.

Pinkston agreed with Green on the moratorium. 

Hatley said he only wants data centers in Tennessee under the right deal.

“We have to have guardrails,” Hatley said. “They need to pay property taxes.”

Blackburn hasn’t publicly taken a stance on whether the state should preempt localities over data centers or whether the state should implement a moratorium.

The candidates on stage differed most from Blackburn’s public position on private school vouchers, where she has called for expanding the program. Blackburn has received million of dollars in support during the gubernatorial primary and the general election from a political action committee, PAC, pushing for private school voucher expansion in the state. 

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Private school vouchers cost Tennessee taxpayers $310 million a year. Lawmakers expanded the private school voucher program to 35,000 students, funding roughly $7,300 per student to enroll in private schools. The state’s first voucher program provides about $9,000 for about 5,000 low-income students only in Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga.

Hatley and Pinkston pointed out that most rural counties don’t have private schools and can’t take advantage of the program. 

Green said the whole thing was a “scam” funded by out-of-state interests. 

“Public dollars should go to public schools for the public good,” Green said. 

The next governor will also have to make executive decisions on whether to pursue more toll-lane projects to address a structural deficit in how the state pays for roads. An intergovernmental agency report recommended that state lawmakers consider raising taxes or passing a law that would allow the state to borrow money to cover a $400 million shortfall in the state department of transportation’s budget.

All three candidates at the forum Tuesday also agreed that the state shouldn’t pursue more toll lane projects. 

Green said toll lanes were just “fast track lanes for wealthy people.”

Hatley said he had no idea why the state would pursue toll lane projects after they “failed” in other states.

While Blackburn wasn’t on the stage, her campaign continues to talk on conservative-friendly media.

Blackburn has continued to emphasize that she wants to implement a program similar to President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE. 

Details of the specific cuts are sparse, but when Lee became governor in 2019, he hired the consultancy firm McKinsey to produce a report on ways to reduce government size. During Lee’s eight years in office, the number of state employees modestly increased. 

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Courtesy of Tennessee Lookout