Key keywords: Tennessee governor 2024 election, August 6 Tennessee primary, 2024 Tennessee gubernatorial candidates, Republican primary for Tennessee governor, Democratic primary for Tennessee governor, Tennessee early voting 2024, open gubernatorial seat Tennessee, Tennessee state policy The 2024 Tennessee gubernatorial race is one of the most closely watched state elections in the U.S. South this cycle, as incumbent Republican Governor Bill Lee reaches his two-term limit, leaving an open seat for candidates across party lines to compete for. The August 6 primary will narrow down the field to one Republican, one Democratic, and third-party nominees who will face off in the November 5 general election. On the Republican side, four major candidates are running, led by Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who has represented the 25th House District since 2011. Sexton has centered his campaign on core conservative priorities: expanding school choice programs including charter schools and education savings accounts, cutting state income and property taxes for middle-class families, strengthening border security coordination with federal authorities, and upholding the state’s strict 2022 abortion ban. His top challengers include former state senator Mae Beavers, a long-time anti-abortion and pro-gun advocate pushing for even stricter limits on gender-affirming care for minors, and small business owner Bill Dodson, who is running on a platform of eliminating state sales tax on groceries and increasing funding for rural road and broadband infrastructure. For the Democratic primary, three leading candidates are vying for the nomination, most notably state representative Gloria Johnson, who gained national attention in 2023 as one of the “Tennessee Three” lawmakers targeted for expulsion after leading a gun control protest on the House floor following a mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school. Johnson’s platform prioritizes passing universal background checks for gun purchases and red flag laws, expanding Medicaid eligibility to cover 300,000 uninsured Tennesseans, increasing public school funding by 20% over the next four years, and protecting reproductive rights including restoring access to abortion for cases of rape, incest, and threat to the mother’s life. Her key opponents are community organizer Marquita Bradshaw, the 2020 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Tennessee running on environmental justice and affordable housing policies, and small business owner JB Smiley Jr., who previously ran for Memphis mayor in 2023 and focuses on criminal justice reform. Election officials note that early voting for the August 6 primary runs from July 17 to August 1, and voters must be registered with a political party to cast a ballot in their respective party’s primary; independent voters can only vote in non-partisan local races on the primary ballot. Experts predict primary turnout will hover around 20% of registered voters, a typical rate for non-presidential primaries in the state, though high enthusiasm among both progressive and conservative voters could push that number slightly higher. The winner of the general election will take office in January 2025, oversee a $58 billion state budget, set K-12 and higher education policy across the state, and make key appointments to state courts and regulatory boards.