Political ads · 2026 · TN

Tennessee Governor 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them

Marsha Blackburn (Republican), Jerri Green (Democrat), Misam Abidi (independent), Dean Brewer (independent), Ray Brown (independent), David Hatley (independent), Wendell Jackson (independent), Charles Van Morgan (independent), Eddie Lee Murphy (independent), Lauren Pinkston (independent), Victor L. Scoggin (independent), Dave Seeman (independent), Karl Knox Smithson (independent), L. Webb Taylor (independent) and Robert C. Vick (independent) are the candidates for governor of Tennessee in the November 3, 2026 general election. Semblen has analyzed 72 ads in this race; 44 used at least one manipulation technique, most often glittering generalities and appeal to prejudice.

Marsha Blackburn (REP), Jerri Green (DEM), Misam Abidi (IND), Dean Brewer (IND), Ray Brown (IND), David Hatley (IND), Wendell Jackson (IND), Charles Van Morgan (IND), Eddie Lee Murphy (IND), Lauren Pinkston (IND), Victor L. Scoggin (IND), Dave Seeman (IND), Karl Knox Smithson (IND), L. Webb Taylor (IND), Robert C. Vick (IND). On the ballot as listed by Tennessee Secretary of State, Candidates for Governor, November 3, 2026 General Election. 72 ads analyzed, 44 with at least one technique in the copy. Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing. Updated 2026-10-08.

Findings

As of 2026-10-08. Counts are of distinct ads; the same text run many times is one ad.

Ads analyzed
72 (Meta 69, YouTube 3) · started running between 2025-10-28 and 2026-10-07
With at least one technique
44 of 72 (61%)
Most common techniques
Glittering Generalities · 39 adsAppeal to Prejudice · 23 adsLoaded Language · 14 ads
Meta
44 of 69 (64%) flagged · Glittering Generalities (39), Appeal to Prejudice (23), Loaded Language (14)
YouTube
0 of 3 flagged
Reported Meta spend
$141,100–192,284 on all ads, $106,800–146,052 on flagged ads · Meta reports ranges; these are the sums of their ends
Example
“building businesses, creating jobs, and managing multi-million dollar budgets” — Glittering Generalities, paid for by Hatley for Tennessee · the flagged ad with the highest reported spend that shows the most common technique

Embed this race on your site

A small box with these findings and the newest ads, updated as new ads are analyzed. Free for newsrooms, blogs and campaigns alike; it links back here.

Who is running these ads

By sponsor (16)
Paid for byAdsWith at least one techniqueMost common
Hatley for Tennessee2319 of 23 (83%)Glittering Generalities (16), Bandwagon Appeal (9), Appeal to Prejudice (8)
Marsha for Governor2012 of 20 (60%)Glittering Generalities (10), Appeal to Prejudice (5), Loaded Language (5)
Green For Governor129 of 12 (75%)Glittering Generalities (9), Appeal to Prejudice (8), Black-and-White Fallacy (5)
Bring Reason Back30 of 3
Germantown Democratic Club20 of 2
Marsha Blackburn20 of 2
BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE10 of 1
Committee to Elect Yusuf Hakeem10 of 1
Friends of Carol Abney11 of 1Appeal to Fear (1), Appeal to Prejudice (1), Card Stacking (1)
INDEPENDENT VOTER PROJECT10 of 1
Jerri Green10 of 1
Pinkston for TN11 of 1Appeal to Prejudice (1), Black-and-White Fallacy (1), False Urgency (1)
Robert C. Vick for Governor11 of 1Glittering Generalities (1)
Rose for TN, Inc.11 of 1Flag-Waving (1), Glittering Generalities (1), Name Calling (1)
Tennessee Professional Fire Fighters Association10 of 1
The Redemption Project10 of 1

Decide what counts

Not everyone would call every technique manipulation. Untick the ones you'd call ordinary persuasion and the count updates.

61% of the 72 ads here use at least one of the techniques ticked below (44 ads).

Leaving out the softer ones (loaded language, glittering generalities, slogans, exaggeration, repetition): 57% of ads.

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Money in this race

Candidates for governor report their fundraising to Tennessee's state campaign-finance office, not the FEC. This page doesn't cover those reports yet, so it shows no money figures.

The ads

72 ads, newest first. Video transcripts are shown as the model read them, without caption cues like [music].

Showing the 1 ad paid for by Jerri Green. Show all 72 ads

WHO I AM | Jerri Green for Governor

Paid for by Jerri Greenvideo · 0:30from 2026-10-07
I'm Jerry Green. I was born and raised right here in Tennessee. I'm an attorney, public servant, wife, and mom to three amazing children. So, when families tell me that schools are underresourced, that everything costs too much and that healthc care seems out of reach, I understand. I spent my career solving problems. As a public defender and a council woman, fighting for people has always been my priority. That won't change when I become governor.
no techniques found
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.

Watch on YouTube ↗ Transcript above is auto-generated; the analysis is of the spoken words.

What this page is

  • An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it ran mostly in TN and names a nominee for governor — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office (a U.S. Senate or House campaign included), or it also names TN's Senate nominees, in which case it is on the Senate race's page. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
  • The candidates are the ones certified for the November ballot, from the source linked at the top. Governors are state offices, so there are no FEC filings behind this page: no money figures, and outside groups are placed on a side only when they are a campaign or a party committee.
  • Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
  • A technique is a specific manipulative move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
  • Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. The check runs once and its result is shown to everyone afterwards. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
  • Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
  • Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.

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