State reference

How does government work in Tennessee?

Tennessee’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

132

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Constitution of the State of Tennessee source
In effect since: 1870 source

What may surprise you here

Tennessee has no separately elected lieutenant governor. The Speaker of the Senate holds that title. source
The legislature, not voters, picks the Secretary of State, and the state’s Supreme Court justices appoint the Attorney General. source
Appellate judges are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature, then face yes-or-no retention votes, while trial judges are elected. source

Legislature

Name: General Assembly source
Senate: seats: 33 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Representatives: seats: 99 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: None source

Structure set by: Tenn. Const. art. II, § 3.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: Two consecutive terms source
Next regular election: 2030 source
Lieutenant governor: the Speaker of the Senate holds the title source
Attorney general: chosen by state supreme court source
Attorney general’s term in years: 8 source
Secretary of state: chosen by legislature source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 4 source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: Court of Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals source
Main trial court: Circuit Court and Chancery Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: mixed: appellate judges appointed, then retention votes; trial judges elected source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 92 source
Cities and towns: Tennessee has 345 municipal governments and no township governments, according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 count. source
Schools: Of 142 school systems in 2022, the Census Bureau counted 14 as independent school districts and 128 as dependent on another government, mostly counties. source

Elections

Chief election official: State Coordinator of Elections source
Who runs elections locally: County election commissions source
Primary type: open source
Regular governor elections fall in: even source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Bill Lee Republican, in office since January 19, 2019. source

US senators for Tennessee
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Marsha Blackburn	Republican	Class 1	January 3, 2019	January 3, 2031
Bill Hagerty	Republican	Class 2	January 3, 2021	January 3, 2027

Members of the House for Tennessee
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Diana Harshbarger	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 2	Tim Burchett	Republican	January 3, 2019
District 3	Charles J. "Chuck" Fleischmann	Republican	January 5, 2011
District 4	Scott DesJarlais	Republican	January 5, 2011
District 5	Andrew Ogles	Republican	January 3, 2023
District 6	John W. Rose	Republican	January 3, 2019
District 7	Matt Van Epps	Republican	December 4, 2025
District 8	David Kustoff	Republican	January 3, 2017
District 9	Steve Cohen	Democratic	January 4, 2007

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 1