Rep. John W. Rose on Thursday became the first major candidate to formally announce a bid for Tennessee governor, setting the stage for a potential Republican primary matchup against Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
“Today, as the grateful descendent of fearless Tennessee pioneers and as an eighth generation Tennessee farmer, I humbly announce my candidacy for Governor of the State of Tennessee,” Rose wrote on social media.
In a state that has not sent a Democrat to the governor’s mansion since 2006, Rose’s biggest challenge in his quest to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Bill Lee is likely to come in the primary.
Blackburn, a former longtime congresswoman currently in her second term as Tennessee’s first female senator, has said she’s giving serious thought to a bid for the state’s highest executive office.
“This first two years of [President Donald Trump’s] term, it is all about sending that power and control back to the states. We know that to implement that, like returning health care, returning education, it is going to take strong governors and strong state legislatures. And so we’re strongly considering it,” Blackburn told Fox News in January.
Rose is already branding himself as the “conservative outsider” in the race, according to his campaign website launched alongside Thursday’s announcement.
He’s currently in his fourth term representing a deep-red Middle Tennessee district that encompasses parts of Nashville and its northern suburbs and rural communities along the state’s northern border.
A former businessman, Rose was first elected to Congress in 2018, succeeding Republican Diane Black. At the time, he had relatively little experience in government and politics, save for a brief stint in 2002 as the state’s agriculture commissioner.
A hard-line conservative, Rose has focused his legislative efforts on advocating on behalf of farming interests, rolling back federal agency regulations and limiting the power of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He currently serves on the House Agriculture and Financial Services committees.
Last year, Rose briefly garnered national attention after C-SPAN cameras captured his six-year old son making goofy faces behind his father as the congressman delivered a speech on the House floor.
Jackie Wang contributed to this report.
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