U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Defeats Top GOP Foe in Nashville-Area Seat, Heads to November Showdown

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles defeated a well-funded Republican primary challenger to advance to a November run for a second term, representing part of left-leaning Nashville and several conservative counties in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.

Ogles leveraged former President Donald Trump’s endorsement to beat Nashville council member Courtney Johnston, who received campaign checks from prominent Republicans including former U.S. Sens. Bill Frist and Bob Corker and former Gov. Bill Haslam.

Ogles will face Democrat Maryam Abolfazli, who ran unopposed in her party’s fall primary.

Ogles, a member of the conservative US House Freedom Caucus, has enlisted outside help from Americans for Prosperity, the Koch family’s prosperous free-market group that once employed him as its state director. One of his state’s senators, Bill Hagerty, and several fellow Tennessee Republicans in the House have endorsed him. He has received campaign donations from House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Ogles introduced articles of impeachment for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and introduced new articles of impeachment for Harris after she became the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. He was among the Republicans who prolonged the race for president of the Chamber voting against Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California 11 times before eventually supporting himand later voted against the effort to expel McCarthy.

He moved forward despite several controversies, including those that led to apologizing for misrepresenting his academic credentials and facing a ethics complaint about his personal and campaign finances.

Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and will face Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn in November, pitting a survivor of a Republican-led expulsion effort over a gun control protest against a close ally by former President Donald Trump.

Johnson defeated three primary opponents, including Marquita Bradshaw, a Memphis activist and community organizer who won the Democratic Senate nomination in 2020 and then lost to Republican Bill Hagerty by a wide margin.

Blackburn overcame a Republican primary challenge from Tres Wittum, a former Tennessee legislative staffer who finished last in the 2022 5th Congressional District primary.

Tennessee has elected only state Republican Party candidates for nearly two decades. Blackburn also enters the fall campaign with a significant advantage in campaign cash over any of the Democrats.

Blackburn first won the Tennessee Senate seat in 2018, defeating former Democratic governor Phil Bredesen by nearly 11 percentage points.

Johnson became nationally known after Republican lawmakers tried to expel her over a protest against gun control, but she failed to vote despite expelling two of her Democratic colleagues.

Last year, days after a school shooting that killed three children and three adults, Johnson joined fellow Democratic Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones as they walked to the front of the state House floor with a bullhorn. The trio joined in the chants and chants for gun control legislation from protesters in the public galleries and outside the chamber.

The trio were quickly dubbed the “Tennessee Three” as they soon faced expulsion hearings for violating House rules. Pearson and Jones, both black, were expelled later returned to office, while Johnson, who is white, was spared by one vote. Shortly after the expulsion vote, Johnson quickly noted that she avoided expulsion, likely because she was white. Republicans denied that race was a factor.

Blackburn entered the primary with nearly $8.8 million in cash on hand, a significant fundraising advantage. Johnson had more than $2 million available after raising about $5 million since he entered the race.

Ogles first won the congressional seat in 2022 after Tennessee Republicans redrawn the district to include a portion of left-leaning Nashville.

Leaders representing the growing city harshly criticized the redistricting, saying he diluted Nashville’s interests by dividing it into three congressional districts that include broad areas of rural Tennessee. Concerns have grown over the election of Ogles, the former mayor of Maury County, two counties south of Nashville.

In the state legislature, about half of the state’s 33 Senate seats and all 99 House seats are up for grabs this year. Republicans currently have supermajorities in both chambers. And all sitting lawmakers in the U.S. House are seeking re-election.