Tennessee Republican booted in primary upset
Tennessee voters ousted Rep. Andy Ogles in Thursday’s primary, despite his endorsement by President Donald Trump.
In a surprising primary upset, Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles was defeated by his opponent Charlie Hatcher. Despite receiving the support of former President Donald Trump, Ogles, who was first elected in 2022, faced significant challenges in his campaign. The Republican primary race saw Ogles struggle to raise funds, largely due to a prior campaign finance fraud investigation and controversial social media posts criticizing Islam and the LGBT community.
This marks Ogles as the second House Republican to lose their renomination in a redrawn district this year, following Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw. Additionally, Ogles becomes the third Republican to face a primary challenge this year. His opponent, Hatcher, received a substantial boost of $2 million from the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, an organization that has been actively targeting Republicans who have reversed green energy credits.
Tom Matzzie, the chair of the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, expressed their stance by stating, "We will continue to punish members of either party who want to play politics with American jobs, energy security, and utility prices." Meanwhile, in a separate development, Senator Marsha Blackburn secured the GOP nomination to succeed Governor Bill Lee.
On the Democratic side, Rep. Justin Pearson was nominated to represent a seat that was redrawn to replace a historically Democratic district in Memphis.
Written by urgent.news from Semafor's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
