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Sen. Marsha Blackburn

Senator for Tennessee

pronounced MAHR-shuh // BLAK-bern

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Blackburn is the senior senator from Tennessee and is a Republican. She has served since Jan 3, 2019. Blackburn is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025.

She was previously the representative for Tennessee’s 7th congressional district as a Republican from 2003 to 2018.

Blackburn is among the Republican legislators who, by calling for entire states to be disenfranchised in the 2020 presidential election, fomented the terrorist attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 that aimed to prevent the determination of the next president of the United States. In the days leading up to January 6, Blackburn had announced her intent to object on that day to the inclusion of some states in the count of electors that determines the next president, disenfranchising millions of voters based on lies, conspiracy theories, and preposterous legal theories all falsely claiming various sorts of mass fraud that did not occur. The announcement amplified the message that inspired the attack on the Capitol.
Photo of Sen. Marsha Blackburn [R-TN]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 Report Card for Blackburn.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Blackburn is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Blackburn has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to May 13, 2021. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

The Club for Growth: 88% United States Chamber of Commerce: 70% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: D American Civil Liberties Union: 15% League of Conservation Voters: 3% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 3% Human Rights Campaign: 0%

Committee Membership

Marsha Blackburn sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Blackburn was the primary sponsor of 11 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 11 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Blackburn sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (37%) Science, Technology, Communications (12%) International Affairs (12%) Immigration (12%) Commerce (9%) Crime and Law Enforcement (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (6%)

Recent Bills

Some of Blackburn’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Blackburn voted Nay

Motion Agreed to 92/6 on Dec 21, 2020.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, a major government funding bill, which also included economic stimulus provisions due ...

Blackburn voted Yea

Passed 338/88 on May 13, 2015.
The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of ...

Blackburn voted Nay

Passed 219/206 on Dec 11, 2014.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 [pdf], which was approved by the House on December ...

Blackburn voted No

Blackburn voted Yea

Passed 297/117 on May 8, 2014.

Blackburn voted Aye

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.
The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack ...

Missed Votes

From Jan 2019 to May 2021, Blackburn missed 20 of 911 roll call votes, which is 2.2%. This is on par with the median of 1.6% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: