As a small business woman, author, mother, grandmother, and Member of Congress, Marsha Blackburn has dedicated her service to making America a more prosperous place to live.

No stranger to adversity and hard work, Marsha went to college on a 4-H scholarship and worked her way through school selling books for the Southwestern Company. She was one of their first female sales associates and one of their first female sales managers, assisting the company in establishing a division focused on women. Marsha moved to the corporate world as Director of Retail Fashion and Special Events for the Castner Knott Company. She later founded Marketing Strategies, focused on the retail marketplace and expanded her work to electronic and print media with consumer segments and articles.

Congressman Blackburn began her elected service career in 1998 as a Tennessee State Senator. Blackburn’s Senate career was marked by her commitment to fiscal common sense and government accountability. She became known to Tennesseans for holding “Budget Schools” both in her district and across the state; identifying waste, proposing realistic spending cuts, and offering solutions for a state in a budget crunch.

While serving in the Tennessee Senate, Blackburn led a statewide grassroots campaign to defeat a proposed state income tax. While defeating the tax, she earned the reputation as a champion of anti-tax and government accountability issues, taking to the airwaves to make the case that government wrongly believes it never gets enough of the taxpayer’s paycheck. She earned the attention of publications like the Wall Street Journal and groups such as Americans for Tax Reform. In November 2014, the people of Tennessee passed an amendment to the state constitution to ‘expressly prohibit a state income tax’ – what a fitting cap to a 14 year battle. Her long time goal of permanently restoring the ability to deduct state and local sales taxes Tennesseans pay each year from their federal income tax filing was realized with the passage of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015.

Blackburn’s reputation for focusing on freedom, free people and free markets boosted her from the Tennessee Senate to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 to represent Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. She continued the fight for accountable government, becoming a leader in Congress and a leading voice advocating for a small, efficient federal government that is accountable to its citizens. She became the first woman in the state to win a Congressional seat in her own right.

Congressman Blackburn is often selected by her colleagues to lead the charge for common sense reform. In February 2010 she was selected to represent conservative views on health care reform at the President’s Blair House Summit. In 2012, she co-chaired the platform for the Republican Convention. She has served as a Republican whip every Congress, holds a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee serving as Vice Chair – the committee has jurisdiction over health care, energy regulation, and telecommunications issues.  In 2015 Congressman Marsha Blackburn was chosen to Chair the Select Investigative Panel to review medical procedures and abortion business practices. She has also chaired the Privacy and Data Security Working Group.

Marsha has earned a special reputation as a bi-partisan leader and policy expert on telecommunications issues and intellectual property rights. She has strong ties with Tennessee’s recording industry and the songwriters and performers who make it great. In 2003 Blackburn founded and continues to serve as Chairman of the Congressional Songwriters Caucus to give the nation’s creative community a voice on Capitol Hill.

Blackburn is a member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and continues her involvement in numerous charitable organizations and her church, Christ Presbyterian.

Marsha and her husband Chuck live in Williamson County, Tennessee. They have two children, Mary Morgan (Paul) Ketchel and Chad (Hillary) Blackburn; and two grandsons. Blackburn is a native of Laurel, Mississippi and graduate of Mississippi State University.

Notable Awards

– Congressman Blackburn is regularly praised by good government groups like the National Federation of Independent Businesses, National Taxpayers Union, the Farm Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council and the American Conservative Union.

– She has been named a Taxpayer Hero by Americans for Tax Reform each year she has served in Congress.

– In 2006 the Independent Electrical Contractors recognized her as their Lawmaker of the Year.

– In 2007 Blackburn received the Conservative Leadership Award from the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute.

– In 2007, she was awarded the Congressional Grammy by the Recording Academy; the White Hat award from the Nashville Songwriters Association and in 2008 received the Platinum Award from the RIAA. The Cecil Scaife Foundation has awarded her the Visionary Award.

– In 2012, Health IT Now presented her with the HITN Innovation Award for her work in support of innovative solutions to our most pressing healthcare problems and she was recognized by the Association of Children’s Hospitals and the American College of Radiology for her leadership on healthcare issues.

– Marsha has also been honored by the Family Research Council, received the Distinguished Leader Award from the Susan B. Anthony List for her pro-life, pro-family work, and the Iron Jawed Angel Award for Excellence in Public Service.

– In April 2013 at the “Women Run the World” Half Marathon in New York City, More Magazine recognized Blackburn for her service in government by honoring her as one of 10 women who are making a difference in the world.

– The Washington Post has named her one of the 40 Most Interesting Women in Politics and Newsmax has named her one of the 50 Most Influential Female Republicans.

– The Independent Women’s Forum has named her the 2014 Woman of Valor.

– Marsha was named the 2016 “Woman of the Year” by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute.

– Congressman Blackburn holds an honorary doctorate in letters from King University.