By John J. Duncan Jr.
There is a very small, private dining room at the White House directly under the Oval Office. It is for the president, vice president and the very top White House aides. I had the privilege of having lunch there two times.
The second time, I was the guest of Kellyanne Conway, who had managed President Trump’s 2016 campaign and had become one of his most trusted advisors.
Among other things, I asked Ms. Conway who some of her favorite members of the U.S. House are. She mentioned Vice President Pence, who was eating just a couple of tables away and whom she had recommended for the second spot on Mr. Trump’s ticket.
But the first member she mentioned that day was Marsha Blackburn. She said, “We need a spitfire like her in the Senate.” President Trump also has always supported Sen. Blackburn and said very kind things about her.
Sen. Blackburn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018, carrying 92 counties to the three won by former Governor Phil Bredesen. In 2024, she carried all but two of Tennessee’s 95 counties against State Rep. Gloria Johnson, winning by a 891,000 margin.
Now, Sen. Blackburn is running for governor, and I believe Tennesseans would be lucky to have her lead our state. She certainly is well qualified to do so.
Sen. Blackburn has excelled at everything she has ever done. She won a 4-H college scholarship in high school. The 4-H is one of the finest organizations in this country and gives its scholarships only to the very best young people.
She attended and graduated from Mississippi State University. While there, she was elected as president of the Associated Women Students organization.
She worked as a sales manager for the Times Mirror Company while still in college, and from 1975 to 1978 for Mercantile Stores, Inc. She then started and ran a very successful small business called Marketing Strategies.
Sen. Blackburn has always been a family-oriented person. She and her husband, Chuck, have been married for over 50 years, a very special accomplishment in this day and age, and they have two outstanding children.
Like most good citizens, she wanted to try to make this country better, so she became politically active. Not being one to sit on the sidelines, she helped found the Williamson County Young Republicans and, from 1989 to 1991, became chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party in Tennessee’s sixth most populous county.
Sen. Blackburn served as executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment, and Music Commission from 1975 to 1977, and was in the Tennessee state Senate from 1999 to 2003.
While serving in the state legislature, she led the fight against the state income tax, and almost all Tennesseans are grateful to her for that. The fact that we are one of the very few states that do not have this tax is one of the main reasons our economy is so strong, and so many people want to move here.
In 2002, Sen. Blackburn defeated six men in the primary and one in the general election to win her first election to Congress.
She and I then served together in the House for 16 years, and I developed great admiration and respect for her. She is a true leader. Our voting records were almost identical.
In the U.S. House, Sen. Blackburn represented a district that ran from the Nashville suburbs to the Memphis suburbs. For seven years, she has represented the entire state as our senior senator. Very few people know our state as well as she does.
Probably 15 or 20 years ago, I told a congressman from Florida, former Rep. Cliff Stearns, that by the year 2050, most of the top elective offices in this country would be held by women. Another good friend of mine in the House, Rep. Mary Fallin, became the outstanding governor of Oklahoma from 2011 to 2019.
Sen. Blackburn’s opponent in the primary is a very nice man with a good voting record in the House. But I never got to serve with him and do not know him nearly as well as I do my friend.
Sen. Blackburn is honest, intelligent and hardworking, and she really loves this country. She has shown me through her work that she can be strong and tough when necessary, but she is also kind and compassionate. She has a heart for service and is quite simply one of the finest women I have ever known.
I believe she will be a great governor, and I am proud to endorse her in the Republican primary to be voted on in August.
