Environmentalist, activist, and former political candidate Marquita Bradshaw was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 United States Senate election in Tennessee. She was the first Black woman to win a major political party nomination in any statewide race in Tennessee. Her platform supported strengthening voters’ rights, improving physical and mental health services, legalizing marijuana, raising the minimum wage to $15, advancing policies to address environmental equity issues, fully funding the educational system, and Medicare for all. She lost the general election to Republican Bill Hagerty.
Bradshaw was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. She became an environmental activist as a child when her family began raising awareness of pollution leaking from the Memphis Defense Depot, a contaminated military base near a largely Black neighborhood in Memphis that became a Superfund site in 1992. Her political influence came from her uncle John DeBerry, who for many years was a Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. She earned a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in journalism and communication studies from the University of Memphis.
Currently, Bradshaw is the Environmental Justice Chair of the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, an environmental organization associated with the progressive movement that lobbies politicians to promote environmentalist policies.
In her statement for the Sierra Club, she said, “The climate crisis we face today can only be solved by a just transition from an economy based on environmental degradation, violence, and greed to one based on sustainability, peace, and justice. We need a circular economy that is centered around decreasing harm and pollution.”
In the Democratic primary, Bradshaw was one of five candidates. Her unexpected win against the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s choice, Army veteran James Mackler, drew national attention as the first successful challenge to any DSCC candidate since 2010. She went on to face Bill Hagerty in the general election but lost, later citing Tennessee's restrictive voting laws and the failure of national organizations to help fund Bradshaw's campaign.
Bradshaw went on to found Sowing Justice, an organization striving to increase civic engagement and the cause of environmental justice.