Thursday’s primary in the southern state of Tennessee has provided the first test of the state’s new congressional district map, redrawn in May.
Tennessee was one of roughly 10 states to reconfigure its map since 2025, as part of a partisan push to gain an advantage in the 2026 United States midterm election.
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The election is seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term in office, and the Republican leader has cheered redistricting efforts in right-leaning states like Tennessee, as part of a broader national plan to maintain his party’s control of Congress.
Each district on a congressional map translates to one seat in the House of Representatives, and how a district is drawn can affect who is ultimately elected. With Republicans holding a slim majority in the House, the chamber is considered vulnerable to flip to Democratic control.
Tennessee’s redistricting effort came after the US Supreme Court weakened protections for minority voters under the federal Voting Rights Act in April.
That allowed Republican lawmakers to redraw their congressional map in a way that broke apart the state’s one majority-Black district in Memphis, long considered a Democratic stronghold.
Republicans already hold eight of the state’s nine congressional seats. They will be going for a clean sweep of all the districts in November. Thursday’s primaries have set the stage for those midterm showdowns by finalising the Democratic and Republican nominees for November’s ballot.
Here are the key takeaways from Thursday’s primaries:
Governor’s race: Blackburn wins Republican nomination
Senator Marsha Blackburn has defeated US Representative John Rose to clinch the Republican nomination for the governor’s office.
Blackburn is racing to succeed Governor Bill Lee, who is barred by term limits from seeking re-election. In November, she will face Memphis City Council member Jerri Green, who won Thursday’s Democratic primary.
Blackburn enters the general election with a significant partisan advantage in a state that has become one of the Republican Party’s most consistent strongholds. Republicans have held the governor’s office since 2011 and won every US Senate election in the state since 1994.
If elected, Blackburn would become Tennessee’s first female governor.
US House District 5: Trump-backed incumbent ousted
One of the biggest upsets of the night came in District 5, a sprawling area that includes rural areas as well as part of Nashville.
In the Republican primary, former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher defeated US Representative Andy Ogles, a Trump-endorsed incumbent.
Ogles has represented Tennessee’s 5th District since 2023. But he has courted condemnation from across the political spectrum for his comments against the Muslim community, which have been denounced as discriminatory.
In a March social media post, for instance, Ogles wrote, “Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.”
Ogles is the second Trump-endorsed candidate to lose a primary this week.
Hatcher, a fifth-generation Tennessee dairy farmer, has publicly expressed his support for Trump, even without the president’s endorsement. Hatcher will now face Democrat Chaz Molder in November.
US House District 6: Garrett wins Republican primary for open seat
No incumbent competed on Thursday night for House District 6, an area which stretches from Nashville to Tennessee’s northern border with Kentucky.
That’s because Representative Rose opted not to seek re-election and instead ran for governor, a bid he lost to Senator Blackburn.
The open House seat created a contentious primary for the Republican-leaning district. But State Representative Johnny Garrett emerged the victor in the Republican primary, defeating Rose’s recent chief of staff, Van Hilleary.
In November’s midterms, Garrett will face Navy veteran Mike Croley, who won a five-way Democratic primary.
US House District 9: Memphis Democratic stronghold could flip
Much of the focus of May’s redistricting effort fell on House District 9, which was previously centred on the Democratic stronghold of Memphis.
It was the one majority-Black district formerly on Tennessee’s congressional map. But it was cracked apart by Republicans this year, causing a ripple of changes that also reconfigured District 5, where Representative Ogles faced defeat.
The new District 9 stretches about 320 kilometres, or 200 miles, east from Memphis across rural areas before reaching north towards Nashville.
It now tilts Republican, with 71 percent of voters new to the district, according to an estimate from The Associated Press.
Thursday’s primaries set the battle lines for what is expected to be a hotly contested midterm race.
Trump-backed candidate Brent Taylor, a state senator, earned the Republican nomination. He will face Thursday’s Democratic victor, Justin Pearson, who gained national prominence in 2023 when he was expelled from the Tennessee House for protesting in support of gun control measures, only to be re-elected by voters.
In a victory speech, Pearson told his supporters that Thursday’s primary marked 61 years since the Voting Rights Act was signed. He reflected on how the Supreme Court’s decision had eroded protections for Black and minority voters, and slammed the redistricting effort.
“It’s a blatant attempt to keep people like us out of power and an attempt to make us quit. But tonight, we’re one step closer to Washington, DC,” he said.
US Senate: Incumbent Hagerty advances
Incumbent Senator Bill Hagerty won the Republican primary without opposition and will face Democratic candidate Marquita Bradshaw, an environmental and human rights activist.
Hagerty, first elected in 2020, remains heavily favoured in the Republican-leaning state.
