Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) is calling on Tennessee to reinstate the electric chair as a method of execution after death-row inmate Christa Pike survived two lethal injection attempts on Wednesday evening. Blackburn, the Republican nominee for governor, described the failed execution as "tragic" and argued it compounded the suffering of the victims' families.
"While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly," Blackburn wrote on social media Thursday. "As your governor, I will do just that."
Pike was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Prosecutors said Slemmer was lured to an abandoned steam plant near the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus, where she was beaten, tortured, and killed by Pike and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Shipp, who was 17 at the time, was ineligible for the death penalty and is serving life in prison; he was denied parole last year.
The botched lethal injection on Wednesday prompted Gov. Bill Lee (R) to delay Pike's execution until at least next year, pending an independent investigation. The pause follows a similar failure earlier this year, when executioners could not find a vein to execute death-row inmate Tony Carruthers, leading Lee to grant a one-year reprieve. The repeated failures have intensified scrutiny of Tennessee's lethal injection protocol, with advocates renewing calls to abolish capital punishment. The state's execution process has faced mounting legal and ethical questions, as detailed in coverage of Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike.
Blackburn's proposal drew immediate backlash from Democrats, including Memphis City Council member Jerri Green, the Democratic nominee for governor. Green criticized the death penalty as inherently flawed and condemned Blackburn's call for the electric chair.
"There is a lack of transparency around drug testing, as well as qualified and ethical personnel—but the fact of the matter is: the death penalty has always been inhumane, expensive, and biased," Green wrote on social media. "And Marsha Blackburn wants to bring back one of the most cruel forms of capital punishment, the electric chair."
Green pledged to "put a moratorium on all future executions" if elected and added, "If we say we are pro-life, that means we must be anti-death penalty."
Pike is the only woman on Tennessee's death row and would have been the first woman executed in the state in over 200 years. Her execution was initially stayed by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but the Supreme Court lifted the stay, with the three liberal justices dissenting. The botched attempt has drawn international condemnation. U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urged state authorities "not to pursue any further attempt to execute Pike," calling the prolonged suffering "abhorrent, and cruel" and noting unresolved fair trial questions.
Advocacy groups have renewed their push to end the death penalty in Tennessee following the failed execution, highlighting the state's troubled history with lethal injections. As the state grapples with the fallout, Gov. Lee's pause on executions remains in effect, and the debate over capital punishment is set to intensify in the governor's race. The botched execution and its aftermath have also raised broader concerns about the state's handling of executions, as seen in previous incidents like the botched execution of Christa Pike.
