Image Credit: Sen. Marsha Blackburn / X & Rep. Gloria Johnson / X
The Center Square [By Kim Jarrett] –
Tennessee U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and state Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, took to social media to appeal to voters on the last day before the general election.
Blackburn, a Republican seeking her second term in office, spent her final day in Chattanooga at Wally’s Restaurant before heading north to Kingsport. She continued to be critical of the Biden administration immigration policies on her Senate X account.
“Build the wall. Stop catch-and-release. Deport criminal illegals. Empower ICE and law enforcement. Reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy. This is how we’ll restore our country,” Blackburn wrote.
Blackburn is the first woman U.S. senator from Tennessee. Before her 2018 election, she served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Johnson showed pictures of a sticker the Blackburn campaign reportedly handed out at the Tennessee-Kentucky game on Saturday night on her social media. The stickers said, “They’re eating the cats,” a reference to a claim by the Trump campaign that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing pets and eating them.
“It’s who she is. Spreading a hate-filled, obvious lie for political points. You can say ‘Beat the Wildcats’ without spreading hate and bigotry,” Johnson said in a social media post.
Johnson is a former teacher has served in the House of Representatives since 2012. She was one of three state representatives dubbed the “Tennessee Three” who protested in support of gun control on the House floor after a mass shooting at a Tennessee school killed three. Johnson survived the expulsion effort.
Nearly 46% of Tennessee’s registered voters cast their ballots early, according to the Tennessee secretary of state.
Each county decides when polls will open on Tuesday. All polls in Tennessee close at 8 p.m. Eastern.
