4th Congressional District
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, seeking his ninth term in Congress, breezed through Thursday’s primary election to earn the Republican nomination. DesJarlais has survived several personal scandals and three rounds of redistricting since voters first sent him to D.C. during 2010’s populist Tea Party backlash against President Barack Obama and corporate-friendly GOP politics. The newest congressional boundaries, passed by Tennessee’s Republican supermajority during May’s special session, stretches southeast from Antioch to the Chattanooga outskirts, capturing Murfreesboro, Manchester, Sewanee and McMinnville.
Early in his political career, transcripts surfaced confirming that DesJarlais — a physician and anti-abortion conservative — had several sexual partners at his workplace, including two patients, while chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center, and pressured at least two former sexual partners to get abortions. DesJarlais has since faded into the House’s rank-and-file right wing.
Victoria Broderick overcame a crowded field including District 4 Metro Councilmember Mike Cortese to secure the Democratic nomination in the 4th District. The tech professional was inspired to run in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, unleashing a wave of harsh anti-abortion restrictions in Tennessee and other red states. It’s an upset: Cortese had raised more than $700,000 for his primary, helped by large donations from Nashville politicos like John Ingram and Sam Reed.
6th Congressional District
State Rep. Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) has won the Republican primary for the 6th Congressional District, currently represented by gubernatorial candidate John Rose, who is not running for reelection.
Garrett — elected to state House District 45 in 2018 — has recently sponsored legislation requiring sheriffs’ offices across the state to coordinate with ICE and renaming a portion of Vietnam Veterans Boulevard in honor of Charlie Kirk. U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, U.S. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Riley Gaines have backed Garrett.
“You chose America First over a radical woke agenda that the liberals want to push every single day upon our communities,” said Garrett, addressing supporters in a packed dining room at Sammy B's in Lebanon. “The stakes of this election couldn't be higher. The radical-left socialists want to destroy our state, destroy our country, destroy what we've built. That's all their goals are. I won't let them."
Garrett wore a white cap reading "MAKE DC TENNESSEE" in bold, Volunteer-orange text, a riff off Trump's MAGA cap.
Five U.S. House seats include or border Davidson County after state Republicans drew out Memphis’ majority-Black district in May
" I'm going to D.C. to help President Trump crush the Democrat socialists," continued Garrett over loud applause. "I wanna thank President Trump for changing the direction of this country and reminding Americans that government serves you. That's right. It's certainly not the other way around."
Both Garrett and Van Hilleary, his main primary opponent and Rose's former chief of staff, led campaigns expressing unyielding support for President Donald Trump, though Garrett focused his efforts largely on anti-trans issues and immigration. Hilleary’s campaign highlighted public safety, affordability, “energy dominance” and “restoration of freedom.” Garrett successfully criticized Hilleary, who served in Congress from 1995 to 2003, as an establishment politician and creature of Washington, D.C.
Capturing the Democratic vote in the 6th is Mike Croley, a U.S. Navy veteran, Vanderbilt graduate and nonprofit founder. Croley — who supports the legalization of recreational marijuana use, affordable healthcare and raising the federal minimum wage to $20 per hour — earned a narrow victory in a crowded Democratic field.
7th Congressional District
Uncontested U.S. Rep. Matt Van Epps picked up the GOP nomination for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. Van Epps has held the seat for less than a year but never won a regular general election — voters sent him to D.C. in December with a special election win over progressive state Rep. Aftyn Behn of East Nashville following incumbent Mark Green’s midyear resignation. Van Epps, a West Point graduate and former state commissioner, has close ties to the Lee administration and briefly operated his own government consulting firm Darkhorse Strategy. The district changed significantly in May when state lawmakers redrew seats to split up Memphis’ congressional district. It now includes a large portion of Davidson County, as well as Dickson and Clarksville, and touches eight Middle Tennessee counties. Van Epps took last year’s special election with 54 percent of the vote.
Governor’s race leads fundraising as candidates jockey for position ahead of August primaries
Darden Copeland will challenge Van Epps in November after a late entrance into this year’s midterms. In the Democratic primary, Copeland beat out state Rep. Vincent Dixie, a longtime lawmaker who represents Davidson County neighborhoods including Bordeaux, Haynes Manor and parts of East Nashville. Both Copeland and Dixie fought for Democrats’ nomination last fall during the district’s special election, eventually losing to Behn.
Copeland’s groundwork last fall focused on rural counties and leaned on his political communications chops. A professional campaign strategist and consultant, Copeland has built an extensive network in Nashville’s political scene and enough personal wealth to self-fund his upstart candidacy.
U.S. Senate
At the completion of his first term, incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty was unopposed in his party primary. The Trump administration’s former U.S. ambassador to Japan, Hagerty was elected in 2020 over Memphis Democrat Marquita Bradshaw and has remained a loyal Trump ally.
Bradshaw once again won the Democratic nomination for the seat and will face an uphill battle in the general election against Hagerty — who defeated the Memphis activist by 27 percentage points six years ago.
