Democratic state Representative Gloria Johnson of Knoxville made the last of three announcements across the state Tuesday, Sept. 5, kicking off her statewide bid for the U.S. Senate currently held by Republican Marsha Blackburn.

By the evening announcement in “I Am A Man” Plaza, Johnson had been called a “radical socialist” by Blackburn in numerous posts on social media that were echoed by Republican state legislators.

“You’d almost think they were frightened,” Johnson told a group of 75 in the plaza by Clayborn Temple.

Rep. Gloria Johnson of ‘Tennessee Three’ officially launches 2024 Senate campaign

“We need and we are building a multi-racial generational coalition that will not be divided,” she said. “It terrifies them because they know if we pull together, stand as one, we have more folks than they do.”

Johnson is a special education school teacher in Knoxville.

She is one of three Democrats in the state House threatened with expulsion for attempting to speak on the House floor earlier this year as a gun control demonstration was underway outside the chambers.

The House ultimately voted not to expel her but to expel Memphis Democrat Justin J. Pearson and Nashville Democrat Justin Jones.

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Pearson introduced Johnson in Memphis and is a campaign cochair of the Senate bid.

About the time Johnson started the series of stops in Knoxville Tuesday morning, Blackburn posted a video on social media, describing Johnson as “a far-left Democrat” “as woke as they come” who “knows all the liberal bigwigs in Tennessee.”

“Frankly, my opponent is a direct threat to our way of life,” Blackburn said in the appeal for campaign donations.

An attack website also went up Tuesday calling Johnson a “loyal Joe Biden foot soldier” and paid for by the “Blackburn Tennessee Victory Fund.”

“My colleagues across the aisle aren’t talking about anything,” Johnson told The Daily Memphian after the Memphis rally. “They’re not even talking about policy. They are talking about somebody wants to get rid of their grills or they’re talking about Hunter Biden’s laptop. We need to talk about Tennessee families and quit catering to the special interests.”

She accused Blackburn specifically of opposing “gun sense laws” and the part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act that requires the Medicare program to negotiate prescription prices with drug companies.

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“We know that my opponent, Marsha Blackburn is in deep with the NRA (National Rifle Association),” Johnson said. “She’s working to keep prescription drug prices high.”

On social media last week, Blackburn called the provision “socialist drug price controls” that “will stunt the development of life-saving treatments and cures.”

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) is among those touting the provision.

“She is not working for us,” Johnson said Tuesday in Memphis. “We have got to change it. Enough is enough.”

Whoever wins the August 2024 Democratic Senate primary is expected to carry Shelby County, the biggest blue county in a red state.

Former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen carried the county in 2018 when Blackburn won the seat that Republican Bob Corker was leaving.

Shelby County’s vote accounted for almost 20% of Bredesen’s statewide total. Bredesen finished about 10 percentage points behind Blackburn in the statewide totals.

Tennessee House Republicans expel Pearson and Jones but not Johnson

“Tennessee doesn’t do a lot of voting,” Johnson said. “But we are going to make sure we get our message out. That message is making sure people have a living wage, access to health care and great public schools.”

Blackburn’s latest campaign finance report shows she has a $5.4 million campaign account — putting her at 20th on the Federal Election Commission’s list of incumbent Senators whose seats are up in 2024 by the amount of money in their warchests.

Of Blackburn’s total, $2.3 million was raised in Tennessee according to the FEC’s website.

The Blackburn Tennessee Victory political action committee has another $3.1 million, according to the FEC disclosure.

She has the fourth highest dollar amount among incumbent Republican Senators.