Lauren Pinkston, an independent from Columbia, is running for Tennessee governor in the Nov. 3 general election. She is a first-time candidate who said she first considered running for the state legislature before deciding to seek the governor's office, according to her campaign website.

She has no prior elected experience.

Pinkston is one of 15 candidates in the race, according to BallotReady election data. Other candidates include Marsha Blackburn (Republican), Jerri Green (Democratic), Charles Van Morgan, Dave Seeman, David Hatley, Dean Brewer, Eddie Lee Murphy, Karl Knox Smithson, L. Webb Taylor, Misam Abidi, Ray Brown, Robert C. Vick, Victor L. Scoggin and Wendell Jackson, all independents.

Candidate information

  • Party: Independent
  • Residence: Columbia, Tennessee (since 2019)
  • Education: Bachelor's in elementary education, Freed-Hardeman University (2009); master's certificate in Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life, Clemson University (2015); doctorate in international family and community studies, Clemson University (2019)
  • High school: McNairy County High School, Selmer, Tennessee (2005)
  • Family: Married with four children

Pinkston described herself as a seventh-generation Tennessean whose earliest years were spent in Stantonville, according to her campaign website.

Experience and public service

Pinkston said she spent 15 years addressing human trafficking and creating economic opportunities abroad before returning to Tennessee. She said she helped launch three businesses in Southeast Asia to employ survivors of human trafficking and religious persecution, according to her campaign website.

Her professional history, per her campaign and BallotReady profile data, includes:

  • Research assistant, USC Center for Adolescent Research in Schools (2012–2013)
  • Social enterprise development consultant (2014–2020)
  • Doctoral research intern, UN Office on Drugs and Crime Anti-Trafficking Project, Laos (2015)
  • Founder, three businesses employing survivors of trafficking and political imprisonment in Southeast Asia (2015–2019)
  • Co-owner, Wearthy LLC (2016–2020)
  • Assistant professor of business as mission, Lipscomb University College of Business (2020–2023)
  • President, Kindred Exchange (2020–2024)

On the issues

The following positions are drawn from Pinkston's campaign website and her responses compiled by BallotReady. All statements reflect the candidate's own claims.

Education. Pinkston said she would work to increase teacher salaries while reducing what she called outdated administrative burdens she attributed to remnants of No Child Left Behind policies. She said she supports reducing excessive benchmark testing and would propose licensing adjunct instructors in high school career courses to address teacher shortages.

On childhood development, Pinkston said she supports legislation including no smartphones before high school, no social media before age 16 and phone-free schools.

Energy and environment. Pinkston said she supports expanding Tennessee's nuclear energy capacity, including small modular reactors, to lower utility costs.

She said she would protect the Tennessee Valley Authority from privatization. She said Tennessee ratepayers should not foot the bill for grid upgrades that primarily serve large data center operators and outside investors.

Criminal justice. Pinkston said she would conduct a full assessment of Tennessee's prison system and reduce the incarcerated population by 15 percent in her first term. She said she would invest in behavioral health services for those incarcerated due to substance abuse. She said legislation forcing all local law enforcement to join ICE's 287(g) program would make communities less safe.

Infrastructure. Pinkston said she would address what she described as more than $82 billion in backlogged road repairs by pursuing federal infrastructure funding. She said Tennessee taxpayers should not subsidize roads to new subdivisions built by out-of-state developers.

She said she supports exploring statewide passenger rail connecting Memphis to Bristol and Nashville to Chattanooga.

Healthcare and firearms. Pinkston said she supports legalizing medical marijuana in Tennessee, as first reported by Tennessee Lookout.

She said she supports requirements for safe firearm storage in vehicles, noting Tennessee leads the nation in firearms stolen from vehicles. She also said she supports closing the background-check loophole for private sales and gun shows.

Endorsements

Pinkston has been endorsed by The Tennessee Report, according to BallotReady profile data.

Candidate positions were drawn from Pinkston's campaign website and her responses on BallotReady. The Duck River Sentinel did not interview the candidate for this profile.