Charlotte Gentry Burks (born October 3, 1942) is a farmer and Democratic party politician in Tennessee who represented the 15th district as State Senator from 1998 until 2015.

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Burks was born in 1942 in Gainesboro, Tennessee, and lives in Monterey, Tennessee.^[1] She was married to Tommy Burks, a Tennessee State Senator. They had three children together, one of whom is former Putnam County Executive Kim Blaylock. She also has 11 grandchildren.^[2]

In 1998, after Burks' husband was assassinated during an election campaign by his Republican challenger Byron (Low-Tax) Looper, she became a write-in candidate for his seat. Although she did not campaign, family members and friends campaigned extensively on her behalf, and she defeated Looper by a landslide margin,^[3] receiving 95% of the vote^[4] and becoming the first write-in candidate to win a seat in the Tennessee State Senate. She began her Senate service with the 101st General Assembly.

Burks was reelected in 2002 and 2006 with no substantive opposition.^{[citation needed]} In 2010, when Republicans picked up many seats in the General Assembly, Burks won re-election to a fourth four-year term by a margin of just 183 votes over her Republican opponent, Gary Steakley.^[3] Burks carried five of the six counties in the largely rural district, losing only in Cumberland County. An independent candidate placed third in the vote.^[3] Steakley challenged the results, claiming irregularities on election day, but a State Senate committee found that there was insufficient evidence to question the outcome.^[5][6]

In the Senate, Burks served as the secretary of the education committee; as a member of the joint study economic development; government operations; select on children and youth; and the environment, conservation, and tourism committees. On September 8, 2013 she announced that she would not run for reelection the following year.^[7] On Election Day, the Republican candidate won the seat.^[8]