Fall matchup set between 'Tennessee Three' Democrat Gloria Johnson and GOP US Sen. Marsha Blackburn

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a top Republican ally of former President Donald Trump, will square off this fall in Tennessee against Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson, whose progressive profile rose nationally when her GOP colleagues tried to boot her from office over a gun control protest on the chamber floor.

Both women fended off primary challenges Thursday, setting up a distinctly different general election than Blackburn faced when she first won her office in 2018 while she was in the U.S. House.

Blackburn won six years ago by beating Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen by almost 11 percentage points, toppling a well-liked moderate candidate who had hoped to have crossover appeal with even some Republican voters and who even ultimately supported Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious nomination to the Supreme Court. Tennessee has now only elected GOP statewide candidates for nearly two decades, picking further-right candidates who align with Trump instead of the conservative dealmakers of its past.

Blackburn again is touting an endorsement by Trump, who beat President Joe Biden by 23 percentage points in Tennessee in 2020. She helped craft the GOP’s policy platform for Trump this year and touted his candidacy in her Republican National Convention speech. One of her first TV ads highlighted her opposition to transgender athletes in women’s sports, now part of that GOP platform.

“In the U.S. Senate, I will continue to champion conservative, America First policies by working to lower taxes, secure the border, support our veterans, hold Big Tech accountable, and ensure our adversaries fear us again,” she said in a statement Thursday. “This November, Republicans must unite to take control of the U.S. Senate, keep the House of Representatives, and elect President Donald Trump to the White House.”

Trump's endorsement helped another Tennessee incumbent Thursday — Republican Rep. Andy Ogles managed to defeat a well-funded opponent, Nashville council member Courtney Johnston, as he pursues a second term in the 5th Congressional District. In the fall, he faces Democrat Maryam Abolfazli, who was unopposed in her party’s primary.

Johnson, meanwhile, won her Senate Democratic primary after an act of defiance against the GOP supermajority propelled her into the spotlight last year, days after a school shooting that killed three children and three adults. At the time, she joined fellow Democratic Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones as they walked to the front of the state House floor with a bullhorn. They joined the chants and cries for gun control legislation by protesters in the public galleries and outside of the chamber.

The trio were quickly dubbed the “Tennessee Three” as they faced expulsion hearings for violating House rules. Pearson and Jones, who are both Black, were expelled, while Johnson, who is white, was spared by one vote. Shortly after the expulsion vote, Johnson quickly noted that she avoided expulsion likely because she was white. Republicans denied race was a factor, noting her defense argued her role was lesser, such as not using the megaphone.

The scene was broadcast worldwide, and the three have made guest appearances on TV and at Democratic events nationally since.

Johnson, 62, has been a critic of Blackburn’s policy positions, arguing that most Tennesseans want “common sense gun legislation” and better access to reproductive care. Faced with Tennessee’s strict abortion ban, she testified about the abortion she had at age 21 due to an aortic aneurysm that likely would have killed her if she did nothing but might have harmed the baby if Johnson got the treatment she needed to save her own life.

Blackburn, 71, has opposed gun control measures throughout her political career and has deflected when asked whether she supports a national ban on abortion, saying that she supports the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion and that the issue should be left to voters. Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, in 2020 and prior years she voted to advance a bill that would have banned abortion at 20 weeks.

After her win, Johnson said in a fundraising pitch that “the real fight begins now.”

“Imagine a better future for Tennessee: Extremism? We’ll reject it. Reproductive rights? We’ll defend them. Our democracy? We’ll fight for it. Better opportunities for working families? You bet we’ll make it happen,” Johnson wrote.

During her Republican National Convention speech, Blackburn harkened back to her time in the spotlight during protests at the statehouse. She touted her advocacy as a state senator in 2001 against a Tennessee income tax proposal that ultimately failed. Protesters converged on the Capitol, pounding on the state Senate chamber doors and breaking windows, including one at the governor’s office.

In the 5th District race, Johnston had hoped that Ogles had irked enough Republicans by creating headaches over questions about his resume, inaccurate campaign finance reporting and a headline-grabbing approach to lawmaking.

Ogles first won the congressional seat in 2022 after Tennessee Republicans redrew the district to include a part of left-leaning Nashville.

Leaders representing the growing city sharply criticized the redistricting, saying it diluted Nashville’s interests by dividing it into three congressional districts that include wide swaths of rural Tennessee. The concerns grew with the election of Ogles, a former mayor of Maury County two counties south of Nashville.

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., speaks to supporters after being declared the winner in his Republican primary race Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Franklin, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., speaks to supporters after being declared the winner in his Republican primary race Thursday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Franklin, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., speaks to supporters after being declared the winner in his Republican primary race Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Franklin, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., center, is greeted by supporters after being declared the winner in his Republican primary race Thursday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Franklin, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., speaks to supporters after being declared the winner in his Republican primary race Thursday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Franklin, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Democratic senate candidate Gloria Johnson, right, visits with supporters during an election night watch party at Ghost River Brewing Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)

Democratic senate candidate Gloria Johnson, center, greets supporters during an election night watch party at Ghost River Brewing Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)

Democratic congressional candidate Maryam Abolfazli greets voters on primary election day, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, at the Christ Church Nashville polling place in Nashville, Tenn. Abolfazli is unopposed in the Democratic primary for Congressional District 5. (AP Photo/Jonathan Mattise)

FILE - Democrat Marquita Bradshaw speaks after conceding the race for U.S. Senate to Republican Bill Hagerty in Memphis, Tenn., on Nov. 3, 2020. Bradshaw is seeking the Democratic nomination in the the Tennessee primary Aug. 1, 2024, for the seat held by Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who faces Tres Wittum in her primary contest. (Ariel Cobbert/The Commercial Appeal via AP, File)

FILE - Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., speaks during the Republican National Convention on Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. The Tennessee primary on Thursday, Aug. 1, will determine the Democratic challenger facing off against Blackburn as she runs for a second six-year term. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

FILE - U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-TN., speaks during a news conference near Manhattan Criminal Court during the trial of former President Donald Trump on May 16, 2024, in New York. Ogles will face off against Nashville Metro Council member Courtney Johnston in the Republican primary Aug. 1. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

FILE - Tennessee Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, announces her candidacy to run for the U.S. Senate during an event, Sept. 5, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Johnson is seeking the Democratic nomination in the the Tennessee primary Aug. 1, 2024 for the seat held by Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who faces Tres Wittum in her primary contest. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Just days before inmate Freddie Owens is set to die by lethal injection in South Carolina, the friend whose testimony helped send Owens to prison is saying he lied to save himself from the death chamber.

Owens is set to die at 6 p.m. Friday at a Columbia prison for the killing of a Greenville convenience store clerk in 1997.

But Owens' lawyers on Wednesday filed a sworn statement from his co-defendant Steven Golden late Wednesday to try to stop South Carolina from carrying out its first execution in more than a decade.

Prosecutors reiterated that several other witnesses testified that Owens told them he pulled the trigger. And the state Supreme Court refused to stop Owens' execution last week after Golden, in a sworn statement, said that he had a secret deal with prosecutors that he never told the jury about.

On Wednesday, Golden signed another sworn statement saying Owens wasn't at the store when Irene Graves was killed during a robbery.

Instead, he said he blamed Owens because he was high on cocaine and police put pressure on him by claiming they already knew the two were together and that Owens was talking. Golden also said he feared the real killer.

“I thought the real shooter or his associates might kill me if I named him to police. I am still afraid of that. But Freddie was not there,” Golden wrote in his statement, which does not name the other person.

Golden testified at Owens' trial, saying prosecutors promised to consider his testimony in his favor but he still faced the death penalty or life in prison. He was eventually sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, according to court records.

"I’m coming forward now because I know Freddie’s execution date is September 20 and I don’t want Freddie to be executed for something he didn’t do. This has weighed heavily on my mind and I want to have a clear conscience," Golden wrote in his statement.

The state's highest court owes it to Owens to at least allow Golden to be fully heard before killing Owens, his lawyers wrote in their final briefs to the justices.

“This Court has the power and the responsibility to ensure that the State of South Carolina does not kill one of its citizens for a crime he did not commit,” they said.

Prosecutors have said Golden wasn't the only evidence linking Owens to the crime since other friends testified that they, along with Owens, had planned to rob the store. Those friends said Owens bragged to them about killing Graves. His former girlfriend also testified that he confessed to the killing.

Prosecutors argued last week that Golden's decision to change his story shouldn't be enough to stop the execution because he has now admitted to lying under oath, thereby showing that he cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

“There is no indication that Golden will testify; there is no reasoning to why Owens would admit the shooting (of) Ms. Graves to officers, his girlfriend, and his mother if he was not the shooter as now claimed,” the state Attorney General's Office wrote in court papers.

Also on Thursday, a group called South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty presented a petition with more than 10,000 signatures to Gov. Henry McMaster's office asking him to reduce Owens' sentence to life in prison.

“Justice works for restoration. You cannot restore someone who you kill,” said the group's executive director, Rev. Hillary Taylor, as she read from one of the comments on the petition.

McMaster, a Republican, has said he will wait to announce his decision on clemency until prison officials call him minutes before the execution begins.

Owens would be the first person executed in South Carolina in 13 years after the state struggled to obtain drugs needed for lethal injections because companies refused to sell them if they could be publicly identified.

The state added a firing squad option and passed a shield law to keep much of the details of executions private. The state Supreme Court then cleared the way for the death chamber to reopen this summer.

Five other inmates are also out of appeals and the state can schedule executions every five weeks.

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Rev. Hillary Taylor speaks at a news conference before delivering petitions to stop the execution of Freddie Owens at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Rev. Hillary Taylor speaks at a news conference before delivering petitions to stop the execution of Freddie Owens at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)