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Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:28 PM ET
Marquita Bradshaw, a Memphis environmental justice activist and the 2020 Democratic Senate nominee in Tennessee, is again her party's nominee against Republican Bill Hagerty in 2026.
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Marquita Bradshaw (D) – Bradshaw is a Memphis native who ran against Sen. Bill Hagerty in 2020. She also ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2024.
- U.S. Senate candidate Marquita Bradshaw
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Tennessee early voting begins. Dates, ID rules and absentee info
In the midterm elections, Tennessee voters will choose the next governor, one U.S. senator, nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and state Senate and House members.
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- Born
- January 12, 1974
- Birthplace
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Education
- University of Memphis (Bachelor of Liberal Studies, journalism and communication studies)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Marquita Bradshaw was born on January 12, 1974, and raised in Memphis, Tennessee.
Kenneth and Doris Deberry Bradshaw, her parents, mobilized residents over contamination at the Memphis Defense Depot, a military installation in a predominantly African American part of the city that received Superfund designation in 1992.
Her uncle, John DeBerry, sat for many years as a Democrat in the Tennessee House of Representatives. At the University of Memphis she completed a Bachelor of Liberal Studies, concentrating on journalism and communication studies.
Career
Bradshaw chairs the environmental justice committee of the Sierra Club's Tennessee chapter and has worked with community, environmental and labor groups including the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the AFL–CIO and Tennesseans for Fair Taxation.
In October 2019 she entered the race for the Senate seat of retiring Republican Lamar Alexander.
In the Democratic primary on August 6, 2020, she won with 35.5% of the vote in a five-candidate field, finishing ahead of James Mackler, the candidate backed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; she became the first African American woman nominated by a major party for any statewide office in Tennessee.
In the general election of November 3, 2020, Republican Bill Hagerty won with 62% to her 35%.
She then founded Sowing Justice, a group working on civic engagement and environmental justice, and in 2021 a coalition of 466 environmental groups named her among three activists it recommended to President Biden for a seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
She ran again for the Senate in 2024 and lost the Democratic primary to Gloria Johnson.
2026 race
Bradshaw is challenging Hagerty, who is seeking a second term, in a rematch of their 2020 contest. In the August 6, 2026, primaries, Hagerty was unopposed for the Republican nomination, and Bradshaw won the Democratic nomination with 54.8% of the vote, defeating Maria Brewer, formerly director of the state party, and three other candidates. The general election takes place on November 3, 2026.