President Donald Trump congratulated Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Friday in a pair of tweets after she trounced her opponent in Thursday's Republican primary in a bid to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker.
"Congratulations Marsha," is all Trump said in the first post, though he included her statement to voters after winning 84.5 percent of the vote over newcomer Aaron Pettigrew in the primary.
He later sent out another tweet that said, "Congratulations Marsha, we need you very badly in the Senate to vote for our agenda."
Trump has tweeted support for other winning candidates he had endorsed in recent weeks:
Trump campaigned for Blackburn, 66, who was first elected to the House in 2002, at a Nashville rally in May. Blackburn, who has embraced Trump's agenda, faces former two-term Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, a former Nashville mayor.
He easily defeated his challengers, perennial candidate Gary Davis and attorney John Wolfe.
The Associated Press declared Blackburn and Bredesen the winners within minutes after polls closed, according to local news reports.
However, the Blackburn-Bredesen showdown is expected to be tough, with the Real Clear Politics polling average giving the Democrat a 4.5 percent advantage over Blackburn.
Corker, a Trump critic who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last September that he would not seek a third term.
[Editor's note: This story was revised to reflect that President Trump sent out two tweets congratulating Rep. Blackburn. An earlier version of this story reported only on Trump's first tweet.]
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