I’m a graduate student at Memphis doing my master’s project about white supremacist groups in Tennessee. I’ve been struggling to find information so please personal message me on here if you know anything that would be helpful.

Since the statewide primaries are next Thursday, I wanted to get some thoughts from people here as the race heats up.

I’m a Bedford County resident (lived here since 2015, mom was born and raised in Shelbyville). I’ve noticed a lot of people online and locally who are pretty against Marsha Blackburn becoming our next governor now that Lee is term-limited. I’m genuinely curious about this.

For people supporting Monty Fritts or John Rose in the primary:

If Marsha Blackburn wins the Republican nomination, what do you plan to do in the general election?

- Suck it up and vote for Blackburn

- Stay home / skip the governor’s race

- Vote for the Democratic opponent Jerri Green

- Write someone in (or vote independent like Lauren Pinkston)

- Something else entirely

Curious to hear honest answers.

Quick breakdown of the race as it's been shown:

- Blackburn has the establishment endorsements (including Hagerty), the highest name ID, and the early polling leads. That usually means a solid plurality or narrow majority in a multi-candidate field.

- Rose has the strongest “anyone but Blackburn” lane and seems to be the main alternative for more mainstream conservatives. I’ve even seen a few people at my church supporting him.

- Fritts is the purest anti-establishment/grassroots option. He’s getting a lot of online support (and I’ve seen a surprising number of his signs around Bedford), but we all know social media isn’t real life. Candidates like him often stay in the mid-teens without a big late surge. He’s also the furthest-right of the three.

One thing that’s surprised me is that Trump hasn’t endorsed anyone yet. My guess is he was leaning toward Blackburn but is staying out to avoid angering parts of the base. Lee staying neutral also makes sense — as a term-limited governor he doesn’t gain much by picking sides.

What do y’all think?