Why You Should Become Familiar With Rep. Blackburn

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – When it comes to legislative matters in the U.S. Senate as they pertain to communications and technology, the broadcast industry’s C-Suite better get to know a Republican House member from Tennessee.


House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) on Friday (1/6) revealed the new committee leadership, effective with the 115th Congress.

At the top of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology is new Chairman Rep. Marsha Blackburn.

blackburnBlackburn represents Tennessee’s 7th District, a largely rural area that includes the cities of Clarksville and Franklin. Prior to entering public office in 1998, Blackburn served as Director of Retail Fashion and Special Events for the Castner Knott Company. She later founded Marketing Strategies, focused on the retail marketplace and expanded her work to electronic and print media with consumer segments and articles.

She was elected to the Tennessee Senate in her first political campaign. She was elected to Congress in the 2002 November elections.

Blackburn joined President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team in Nov. 2016.

Blackburn is known, among other things, as a staunch opponent of net neutrality. Given the influence over the new FCC that the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank that also is against net neutrality, it is all but certain that it could be doomed within months of Trump taking office.

Among her most recent campaign contributors are AT&T and Comcast, OpenSecrets.org finds.

Meanwhile, the New Jersey Republican who represents that state’s 7th District will serve as Vice Chairman.

Rep. Leonard Lance was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2008 and reelected to a fourth term in 2014.

The district includes parts of Essex, Morris, Somerset, Union and Warren counties as well as all of Hunterdon County.