Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), a hard-line conservative backed by President Trump, lost Thursday’s Republican primary in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, delivering the president’s endorsed candidates their second defeat of the week.
The incumbent’s matchup against former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher proved far more difficult than many expected, shaped by heavy outside spending in the sprawling, newly redrawn district and a late endorsement from the state’s governor.
When the Associated Press called the race, Hatcher led Ogles 53.2% to 46.8%.
Tennessee dramatically overhauled the boundaries of the 5th District after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision weakening the Voting Rights Act, leaving only 17% of the previous district intact.
While the new congressional map is expected to strengthen Republicans’ chances of holding the seat in November, it also forced Ogles — a congressman frequently surrounded by controversy — to introduce himself to a large pool of unfamiliar GOP primary voters.
The renewable energy industry also targeted Ogles aggressively, with the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition super PAC spending $2 million on attack ads aimed at punishing him for his opposition to green energy policies.
“We’re just getting started,” Tom Matzzie, the super PAC’s chairman, told Politico before Election Day. “If Ogles manages to survive tonight we will stick on him through the general while taking this fight on the road to other races across the country.”
Hatcher also outraised Ogles by more than $100,000 and received a major last-minute boost Wednesday when Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee endorsed him.
“Charlie has stood with President Trump since Day 1,” Lee said in a video posted on X, well after early voting had begun in the district.
On the campaign trail, Ogles bemoaned “being targeted by left-wing liberals from California because I am one of President Trump’s closest allies.”
“They want to stop Trump-endorsed MAGA warriors from delivering for the American people. This desperate attempt to SILENCE me is futile. I will not be silent and I will never stop fighting to put America First,” he said.
Ogles has been embroiled in a number of controversies since taking office in 2023.
Shortly after the 2023 Covenant School shooting outside Nashville, Ogles came under fire for previously posting a Christmas Day photo of him and his family proudly posing with weapons similar to the ones used by the shooter.
Ogles said he and his family were “devastated by the tragedy,” but when asked by NBC if he regretted sharing the photo from 2021, he replied: “Why would I regret a photograph with my family exercising my rights to bear arms?”
Ogles also deleted a homophobic social media post — which was denounced by the Republican Party in June — and faced backlash from the public from another post where he said, “Muslims don’t belong in American society.”
Last year, the congressman asked the Justice Department to investigate then-New York City Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s naturalization paperwork over his alleged support for “jihadists … that funneled millions of dollars to Hamas.”
Ogles called on the Trump administration to denaturalize and “put [Mamdani] on the first flight back to Uganda,” if evidence of wrongdoing was found.
The representative also had his phone searched in 2024 by the FBI, after a watchdog group filed an ethics complaint into his campaign fund usage, and faced scrutiny for false claims about his resume in 2023.
Hatcher will be a heavy favorite in November in the deep red district, which is rated a solid Republican seat by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, DeVante Hill and Rachel Hurley are competing for the Democratic nomination in the 5th District.
