Jerri Green

Jerri Green is a candidate for Governor Tennessee Primary Election in 2026 in Statewide, Tennessee.

Interim Chief Public Defender in Memphis, TN

Also running: Marsha Blackburn, Monty Fritts, John Rose, Carnita Atwater, Tim Cyr, Adam "ditch" Kurtz, Kevin Lee Mccants, Misam Abidi, Dean Brewer, Ray Brown, David Hatley, Wendell Jackson, Charles Van Morgan, Eddie Lee Murphy, Lauren Pinkston, Victor L. Scoggin, Dave Seeman, Karl Knox Smithson, L. Webb Taylor, Robert C. Vick.

Jerri Green, a Memphis native, is a Democratic candidate for Tennessee Governor in 2026. She earned her B.A. from the University of Tennessee and J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Her career includes serving as a public defender in D.C., practicing international human rights law, leading a nonprofit, teaching at the University of Phoenix, and becoming Shelby County's Interim Chief Public Defender in 2026. Green, a mother of three, campaigns as "One Tough Mother" who puts families over billionaires, contrasting herself as a local officeholder and public defender, not a traditional politician. She acknowledges the challenge of being a Democrat in Tennessee and runs in the August 6th primary.