Charlane Oliver

Charlane Oliver is an incumbent Democratic State Senator representing District 19 in the Tennessee State Senate, first elected in 2022. A political strategist, nonprofit executive, and communications expert, she has dedicated two decades to building infrastructure for collective power and social change. Oliver earned her B.S. from Vanderbilt University and an M.P.A. from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She is a trusted voice on voting rights issues and is known for her advocacy, including a notable disruption of a legislative session to protest a congressional map redrawing, which she characterized as "Jim Crow 2.0." Oliver serves on multiple committees, including Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and State and Local Government. She is running for re-election in the 2026 Democratic primary.