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.
![Photo of Sen. Marsha Blackburn [R-TN]](/static/legislator-photos/400032-200px.jpeg)
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 Aug 7, 2022. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Marsha Blackburn sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Blackburn was the primary sponsor of 12 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 3820 (116th): Open Technology Fund Authorization Act
- S. 1235 (116th): Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act
- H.R. 5799 (115th): Medicaid Drug Review, Utilization, Good Governance Improvement Act
- H.R. 4986 (115th): RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018
- H.R. 375 (115th): To designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 719 Church Street in Nashville, Tennessee, as the “Fred D. Thompson Federal Building and United States …
- H.J.Res. 86 (115th): Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to “Protecting the Privacy …
- H.R. 2435 (114th): To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with regard to the Reagan-Udall Foundation.
Does 12 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 (30%) International Affairs (17%) Armed Forces and National Security (12%) Immigration (11%) Crime and Law Enforcement (8%) Commerce (8%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%) Government Operations and Politics (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Blackburn recently introduced the following legislation:
- S.Res. 735: A resolution acknowledging and commemorating the women in the Army who served in …
- S. 4652: Taiwan Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022
- S.Res. 705: A resolution congratulating the pro-life movement on its historic victory in Dobbs v. …
- S. 4499: A bill to prohibit any requirement that a member of the National Guard …
- S.Res. 692: A resolution recognizing and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the enactment of title …
- S.Res. 677: A resolution recognizing the exemplary service of the soldiers of the 30th Infantry …
- S. 4290: Iran China Accountability Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2019 to Aug 2022, Blackburn missed 65 of 1,572 roll call votes, which is 4.1%. This is worse than the median of 2.4% 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.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills