Jack Johnson Chosen Senate Speaker as Republicans Shuffle Leadership

Senate Majority Leader Dawn White, Lt. Gov. Jack Johnson and Senate Republican Caucus Chair Becky Massey, Nov. 10, 2026 Photo: Hamilton Matthew Masters Tennessee senators chose new Republican leadership Tuesday in a tense caucus meeting, elevating Sens. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) as speaker, Dawn White (R-Murfreesboro) as majority leader and Becky Massey (R-Knoxville) as caucus chair.Despite the GOP suffering a nationwide drubbing, Tennessee's Republican Party held all its state Senate seats, maintaining a supermajority and setting up Johnson as the chamber’s next speaker and Tennessee’s lieutenant governor. Johnson will succeed retiring East Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, who briefly addressed his party’s Senate caucus after contested officer elections. “ What hurt us this time, certainly the economy and the war were probably the most pressing issues," McNally told his colleagues Tuesday.

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