Marsha Blackburn Crushes Chinese Fortune Cookies In First Ad Of Gov Campaign

Marsha Blackburn’s first appearance on the Tennessee airwaves as she ramps up her run for governor features her literally crushing Chinese fortune cookies.

The longtime Republican lawmaker who just over a year ago was reelected to the U.S. Senate dropped her first statewide ad in her campaign for governor on Wednesday, and is using the spot to promise voters that she will fight to “protect Tennessee land from Chinese front companies.”

“How hard am I gonna crack down on China? Well, here’s a clue,” Blackburn says as she smashes fortune cookies revealing her campaign promises. “It doesn’t take a fortune cookie to figure it out: here in Tennessee we’re going to stop Communist China and protect Tennessee land.”

Blackburn has voiced her views on China in the House of Representatives since 2003 when she recognized the threat of Chinese intellectual property theft. In the ad, Blackburn promises to work with the Trump administration to continue the fight.

This video is reminiscent of her campaign ad for re-election as Senator, where she broke “China” plates, asserting that China was buying up land.

Blackburn told The Daily Wire that she views Tennessee as “America’s conservative leader” and wants to lead the way on the important issue of cracking down on Chinese incursions into the country.

“As I’ve said from the beginning, Tennessee should be America’s conservative leader, and one of the places that we can — and should — lead is in showing the rest of America how to stand up to and confront Communist China,” Blackburn said. “As governor, I’ll work with the legislators to tighten up those loopholes and hunt down every adversary who tries to get a foothold in our state.” 

Blackburn’s focus on preventing the CCP from controlling Tennessee land stems from issues dating back to 2023. Tennessee created legislation to stop foreign governments from buying agricultural-land if they are a country sanctioned by the U.S. government. 

The concern over foreign ownership of land was sparked by the fact that the company Walton Tennessee LLC, a “shell company” with no significant assets or operations, has bought around 500 acres. Loudon County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw had said that “it’s not like it’s half-acre lots, we’re looking at a 500-acre tract of some pretty good real estate right there.” The acres run alongside land adjacent to military bases like the McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base.

Walton Tennessee has sold over 100 parcels of land for as cheap as $10 to foreign entities over the past few years. Nationwide, the CCP holdings of U.S. agricultural-land has risen by over 5,300% from 2010 to 2020, owning “352,140 acres of U.S. land valued at $1.9 billion.” 

Blackburn is the heavy favorite to be the Republican nominee, with a primary election set for the beginning of August. She was reelected to the U.S. Senate in 2024 by nearly 30 percentage points, and is overwhelmingly popular in the state.