The candidates for Tennessee’s August primaries have shifted after state lawmakers answered President Donald Trump’s call to redistrict ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Voters will be in different districts with different names on the ballot.
The legislature redrew the state’s congressional map in May, as the election commission was preparing to send out ballots to oversea voters. The new boundaries mean some candidates no longer live in the districts they’re running in, and some newcomers entered the fray just three months shy of the Aug. 6 primary.
As early voting kicks off July 17, some voters will also be casting ballots in new districts.
Here’s a breakdown of who’s on the ballot in Middle Tennessee’s congressional races.
4th District
Includes: Davidson, Rutherford, Cannon, Coffee, Warren, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Van Buren, Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties
The 4th District now includes a portion of Davidson County for the first time. Some South Nashville voters will now be casting ballots in an area long-represented by U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais.
DesJarlais’ 15-year tenure began mired in controversy after a taped phone call appeared to show him pressuring a mistress into having an abortion. DesJarlais consistently votes against abortion access. In 2013, DesJarlais, a doctor, was fined and reprimanded by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners for having sex with patients prior to his election.
While in office, DesJarlais has aligned himself with President Trump. He voted to overturn the election results of the 2020 presidential election, has passed legislation allowing military to carry firearms at recruiting stations and voted against establishing Juneteenth as a holiday.
DesJarlais won with 70% of the vote in 2024, but is now facing primary challenges from three other conservative Republicans: Tom Davis from Warren County, Joshua James of Rutherford County and Harold Jones of Coffee County. All of the challengers are military veterans with platforms emphasizing fiscal responsibility and immigration enforcement.
On the Democratic side, as of the end of the first fiscal quarter, one candidate had out-fundraised even DesJarlais. Mike Cortese, a Nashville Metro Councilmember, shifted his campaign from the 5th District after redistricting. The former music industry employee is running on a platform emphasizing affordability — including universal healthcare, housing and education.
Continuing coverage: Tennessee redistricting
Cortese will be fending off challenges from opponents with far less funding, though Victoria Broderick, a Fayetteville mother in the tech industry, had amassed roughly $50,000 at the end of the first quarter. There’s also Joyce Neal, a Davidson County Democratic Party Executive Committee member, Nashville carpenter Tim Lanier and Cliff Huffman.
5th District
Includes: Williamson, Maury, Lewis, Hickman, Montgomery, Humphreys, Houston, Stewart, Benton, Henry, Weakley, Obion, Lake, Dyer, Lauderdale, Tipton and Shelby counties
Incumbent Republican Congressman Andy Ogles faces a primary challenger in Charlie Hatcher, a dairy farmer and agriculture commissioner for Tennessee.
While both candidates have campaigned on furthering Trump’s agenda, the president made an early endorsement for Ogles’ re-election campaign last year. Hatcher has said that, if elected, he would vote similarly to Ogles while being more present in the district.
Hatcher and Ogles have supported immigration enforcement crackdowns. Earlier this year, Ogles alienated Muslim voters in his district by calling for an immigration ban on Muslim-majority countries. Redistricting took the majority of Nashville’s Muslim population out of Ogles’ district, instead splitting them between the 4th and 7th Congressional Districts.
Hatcher is out-fundraising Ogles, but the two-term congressman has fended off primary challenges from better-funded opponents in the past.
Contributions to the front-runner of the Democratic primary have dwarfed both GOP candidates. Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder has raised nearly double the amount of Hatcher and Ogles combined.
Redistricting moved Molder’s home city of Columbia out of the 5th Congressional District and into the 9th, but Molder continued his campaign for the 5th under new state rules that suspended residency requirements for candidates.
In the Democratic primary, Molder faces several challengers from Memphis, which was incorporated into the sprawling new District 5. DeVante Hill, who was previously running in Memphis’s old 9th Congressional District, joined the District 5 race after redistricting — along with Memphis City Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, Memphis writer Rachel Hurley and former Memphis educator Carrie Iacomini.
6th District
Includes: Davidson, Wilson, Sumner, Smith, DeKalb, White, Putnam, Jackson, Clay, Overton, Pickett, Fentress, Cumberland, Morgan, Scott, Rhea and Campbell counties
With incumbent U.S. Rep. John Rose running for governor, the 6th District race has been left wide open.
It’s also a different electorate, particularly in Middle Tennessee: the district lost nearly all of Sumner County, claimed all of Wilson and the dividing lines within Davidson have changed.
Still, the Republican primary is shaping up to be competitive, with two well-funded, experienced candidates: State Rep. Johnny Garrett, R-Goodlettsville, and John Rose’s chief of staff, former U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary.
Both are Trump-aligned ultra-conservatives, who have raised well over $1 million. But both have less connection to the district. After redistricting, Garrett’s statehouse district is now mainly located in the 7th District. And, while Van Hilleary was elected to Congress in 1995, that was in the old 4th District.
Garrett is an eight-year state lawmaker from Goodlettsville, who calls himself a “Trump Conservative.” At the top of his issues are stringent anti-immigration efforts, supporting AI, supporting Israel, lowering taxes and protecting the 2nd Amendment. Earlier this year, the Tennessee Lookout reported Garrett had sent out mailers paid for by state campaign funds while mounting his congressional run, sidestepping rules that ban the use of state campaign accounts for federal races.
Hilleary — a military veteran who left his congressional seat in 2002 for an unsuccessful gubernatorial bid — is challenging Garrett on a similar platform: public safety, anti-immigration laws, protecting the 2nd Amendment and backing Trump’s “full energy dominance agenda.”
There are other Republicans in the field, though with substantially less cash on hand. Jon Henry, another Christian conservative veteran, had raised close to $100,000 at the end of the first fiscal quarter, and shares a similar, Trump-aligned agenda. Natisha Brooks, a former educator and “Christian conservative constitutionalist,” is again throwing her hat in the ring, after running for congressional primaries in 2020, 2022, and for Nashville mayor in 2023.
On the Democratic side, the last election’s primary winner, Lore Bergman, is running again on a platform of gun reform, LGBTQ rights, and abortion access.
Chaney Mosley, a military veteran and agriculture professor at MTSU, looks to be in the best financial position. He’s advocating for affordability, better education and better investment in rural communities. Another veteran, Crossville’s Mike Croley (now an efficiency engineer) is running on a similar platform of affordability, accessibility and accountability.
Miriam Leibowitz and Christopher Martin Finley are also running, but without publicized platforms.
7th District
Includes: Davidson, Cheatham, Dickson, Montgomery, Robertson, Sumner, Trousdale and Macon counties
For the Republican ticket, incumbent U.S. Rep. Matt Van Epps is running unopposed less than a year after winning a special congressional election to fill the seat left vacant by Mark Green’s surprise retirement.
Before redistricting, military veteran and English teacher Joshua Warren Sales had also been running unopposed for the Democratic primary. Since lawmakers redrew the map, State Rep. Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville, and Nashville businessman Darden Copeland have joined the race. They previously lost to Tennessee Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville, in the primaries for December’s special congressional race. Behn said she chose not to run for re-election after she and her family received death threats for her initial bid, in which she narrowed the gap between her and the Republican winner by nearly a dozen points.
Saletta Holloway, a leadership executive at Meharry Medical College, also joined the race after redistricting. Lore Bergman, who is also running in the 6th Congressional District, threw her hat in the ring as a write-in.
9th District
Includes: Williamson, Rutherford, Maury, Marshall, Bedford, Moore, Lincoln, Giles, Lawrence, Wayne, Hardin, McNairy, Hardeman, Fayette and Shelby Counties
Whoever wins the Republican primary on Aug. 6 is poised to flip the district red under the new 9th District map. Memphis businesswoman Charlotte Bergmann had been running unopposed before redistricting brought a flurry of challengers.
Of the race’s GOP newcomers, President Donald Trump endorsed state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, a few days before early voting.
Taylor faces a challenge from fellow state lawmaker, Rep. Todd Warner, R-Lewisburg. Warner has similarly aligned himself with Trump. During redistricting, he wore a Trump 2024 campaign flag like a cape.
Also running in the Republican primary, retired U.S. Army Sergeant Jeremy Thompson has made little mention of the president in campaign materials.
On the Democratic side, incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen ended his re-election campaign after the legislature carved Memphis into three districts. Cohen had faced a credible threat in State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, who gained national attention as one of the “Tennessee Three” lawmakers who faced expulsion for protesting gun reform on the House floor.
The son of a preacher, Pearson has been active in the church and environmentalist circles in Memphis, protesting the xAI data center and helping to stop the Byhalia Pipeline.
Since redistricting, fellow state lawmaker, Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, has joined the race for congress. As a former intern for Cohen, Lamar had expressed loyalty for the long-time incumbent before he dropped from the race.
Lamar and Pearson staged separate protests at the state Capitol during redistricting, with Pearson leading marches up the steps of the statehouse and Lamar joining other state Democrats in press conferences condemning the new map. Both have criticized the new map for diluting the power of Black voters.
Memphis businessman M. LaTroy A-Williams had been running for the seat before redistricting, campaigning on revitalizing the city’s economy.
Nashvillian Jim Torino, a former healthcare COO and founder of an anti-bullying nonprofit, joined the race post-redistricting, advocating for affordable healthcare.
U.S. Senate
Only one of Tennessee’s Senate seats is up for re-election, although there is possibility of change in both. Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn is running for governor. If elected, she or outgoing Gov. Bill Lee would appoint someone to finish out her term in the Senate.
U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty is up for re-election now and looks poised to maintain the seat. He has no Republican challengers in the primary and a commanding fundraising lead over any Democratic challengers.
Hagerty, who won the seat in 2020 after serving as the ambassador to Japan under the first Trump administration, has the president’s endorsement and roughly $5 million on hand.
The Democratic ticket is dealing with much smaller fundraising totals, and the party hasn’t held a Tennessee Senate seat for more than 30 years.
Four candidates are vying to be the Democratic candidate: Somerville-based middle school math teacher Civil Miller-Watkins is taking her third stab at public office; she has unsuccessfully run for statehouse in 2016 and 2020. Memphian Marquita Bradshaw is running on a platform of universal healthcare, environmental and restorative justice, funding for public schools, better wages and universal background checks for gun owners.
Murfreesboro pastor Kevin McCants is running for both Senate and Governor on a platform of altering the healthcare model, increasing wealth for younger populations to stabilize the national debt, and AI protections. Maria Brewer, a former director for the Tennessee Democratic Party, is campaigning on taxing “billionaires and big corporations,” lowering cost of living and improved healthcare and education.
Early voting in Tennessee’s primary elections run July 17 through Aug. 1.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM