Marsha Blackburn and Phil Bredesen coast in primaries, head for Senate showdown

Michael Collins | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Tennessee U.S. Senate race polls: Phil Bredesen, Marsha Blackburn vie to replace Bob Corker A look at the several polls detailing the race of Marsha Blackburn and Phil Bredesen for U.S. Senate

The long-anticipated battle between Republican Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Phil Bredesen to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker is now official after both candidates formally won their parties’ nominations in Thursday’s primaries.

Blackburn, an eight-term congresswoman from Brentwood, easily defeated Aaron Pettigrew of Murfreesboro to capture the GOP nomination. Bredesen, a former two-term governor and former Nashville mayor, easily won the Democratic nomination over Gary Davis of Nashville and John Wolfe of Chattanooga.

The Associated Press declared both Blackburn and Bredesen the winners just minutes after polls closed.

“Today is a milestone and the beginning of the general election, and I am so grateful you are entrusting me with the Republican nomination for United States Senate,” Blackburn said in a statement issued after she was officially declared the GOP nominee. “We ask for your continued support as we work to earn every single vote and win in November.”

Bredesen, speaking to his supporters across the state live via Facebook, said he wants to go to Washington to complete “unfinished business.” Touching on one of his campaign themes, he promised to bridge the partisan divide that he said has turned the country into a place “where everybody stands on opposite sides of the room and shouts at each other.”

“What people want across the board, whether they’re super conservative or super liberal or anywhere in between, they all say the same things: ‘Let’s just move things. Let’s get some things done,’” he said. “That’s very much the way I tried to operate as governor and very much what I want to bring to Washington.”

The Blackburn-Bredesen matchup will not only be the state’s marquee contest this fall, it is expected to be one of the most closely-watched mid-term campaigns in the country because it is among the races that could help determine which party controls the Senate.

Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a sometimes critic of President Donald Trump, announced last September that he would not seek a third term, setting the stage for this fall’s contest.

In all, 26 Democratic and nine GOP seats are in play in the Senate this year. Republicans hold a slim, 51-49 majority, which means Democrats need a net gain of just two seats to take back control of the chamber in November. To do that, though, they can scarcely afford to lose any incumbents.

The Tennessee contest is likely to be brutal and expensive. Campaign spending is expected to surpass the $34 million spent on the 2006 matchup between Corker and his Democratic opponent that year, then-Congressman Harold Ford Jr.

Outside groups already are planning to spend millions on the race. The Senate Leadership Fund, which works to elect Republicans to the Senate, has booked $4.4 million in airtime and is expected to start running ads the week of Sept. 11, according to a report in The Hill. The Senate Majority PAC, the top Democratic outside group, has purchased $3.4 million in airtime and will begin running ads in October.

Most signs point to a close race. The political website Real Clear Politics gives Bredesen a 4.5 percentage-point advantage over Blackburn, based on an average of polling in the race.

Blackburn, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, served as one of Trump’s campaign surrogates during his 2016 presidential race and is counting on his popularity in Tennessee to help propel her to victory.

At campaign appearances, she frequently reminds voters that she is in sync with Trump on issues such as tax reform, the economy and immigration, and promises that if elected she will work to help pass his agenda.

Trump endorsed Blackburn on Twitter back in April, writing that she is “a wonderful woman who has always been there when we have needed her.” The following month, he stumped for her at a campaign rally in Nashville, telling supporters “you have to work with Marsha” and attacking Bredesen as “a tool” and “very liberal.”

Bredesen, who has built a career as a moderate Democrat willing to cross party lines on some issues, is trying to become the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Tennessee since Al Gore won re-election to a second term in 1990.

He stresses that he’s not running against Trump and has steered clear of regularly criticizing the president on the campaign trail. He has, however, slammed Trump over his decision to place new tariffs on imported goods, a move that Bredesen says hurts the state's auto industry, farmers and exports like Jack Daniel's whiskey.

So far, Bredesen has focused on a host of Tennessee-specific issues on the campaign trail – everything from the influx of Asian carp to a proposal for the Tennessee Valley Authority to help expand broadband to rural areas.

Bredesen’s campaign got an unexpected boost last spring when Corker suggested the former governor could appeal to some Republicans and said he would not campaign against him in the fall.

Regardless, Corker gave his endorsement to Blackburn, donated to her campaign and said he would vote for her in November.

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More: Tennessee U.S. Senate race polls: Phil Bredesen, Marsha Blackburn vie to replace Bob Corker