Tennessee's newly redrawn congressional map handed Republicans a path to a 9-0 delegation, but the first primaries under those lines cost a Trump-backed House incumbent his seat and set up a November clash with a progressive who once got expelled from the state legislature.
Rep. Andy Ogles, a two-term conservative and House Freedom Caucus member, lost his Republican primary in the redrawn 5th Congressional District to former state Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher on Thursday. Ogles carried endorsements from both President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, but neither proved enough to overcome a flood of outside money and a late endorsement of Hatcher by term-limited Gov. Bill Lee. The New York Post reported that Hatcher won by 6.4 percentage points.
The result marks the second time in a single week that a Trump-endorsed House candidate has fallen short in a Republican primary, following a similar loss in Michigan's 8th District. For a president whose endorsement record in 2026 GOP primaries had been a dominant force in reshaping the party, the back-to-back defeats are a rare blemish, though the broader pattern still favors Trump-backed candidates by a wide margin.
The 5th District race drew national attention in part because of who was bankrolling the opposition. The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, a clean-energy super PAC largely funded by California crypto billionaire and major Democratic donor Chris Larsen, spent roughly $1 million opposing Ogles and supporting Hatcher before purchasing another $700,000 in advertising ahead of the primary, a Fox News Digital review of federal filings found. The New York Post put the total outside attack spending at $2 million.
Ogles accused the group of targeting him for opposing Biden-era clean-energy subsidies and suggested his close ties to Trump had put a target on his back. On the campaign trail, Ogles framed the outside spending in blunt terms:
"They want to stop Trump-endorsed MAGA warriors from delivering for the American people."
Tom Matzzie, chairman of the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, made no effort to hide the group's intentions, or its plans to keep going. After the results came in, Matzzie said the group was far from finished:
"We're just getting started. 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."
That a Democratic donor's money played a decisive role in a Republican primary is worth pausing on. Larsen is not a Tennessee voter. He is not a Republican. He is a California-based cryptocurrency figure with deep pockets and a political agenda tied to clean-energy policy. The question Republican voters should ask is straightforward: when a Democratic billionaire spends seven figures to pick your nominee, whose interests does that nominee serve?
Tennessee Republicans redrew the state's congressional lines this spring with a clear goal: turning their 8-1 delegation into a clean sweep. The redistricting broke apart the old 9th Congressional District, a Memphis-area seat that had long favored Democrats, and reshaped it into a district that now tilts Republican.
The move forced longtime Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen to abandon his reelection bid entirely. But the new lines also scrambled the terrain for incumbents like Ogles, who found himself running in a reconfigured 5th District where the voters and the political dynamics had shifted. Trump held a virtual tele-rally last month praising Ogles as a strong businessman and America First lawmaker, but the combination of redistricting, Gov. Lee's endorsement of Hatcher, and the super PAC spending proved too much to overcome.
In Indiana earlier this year, Trump-backed challengers ousted six Republican incumbents and forced the state Senate GOP leader to step aside. Tennessee's 5th District flipped the script: the Trump-endorsed incumbent was the one who lost, and the winner ran with the governor's backing and a Democratic donor's air cover.
The clearest Trump-aligned win of the night belonged to Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who defeated Rep. John Rose to claim the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Blackburn, who won reelection to a six-year Senate term just last year, made the unusual leap from the upper chamber to a governor's race, a move that carries significant downstream consequences for Republican politics in Tennessee.
If Blackburn wins in November, she would have to give up her Senate seat, triggering a vacancy and another round of political jockeying over who could succeed her. Rose, by contrast, had already surrendered his House seat simply to run in the primary, a structural disadvantage that underscored the asymmetry of the contest.
Blackburn struck a confident tone Thursday night:
"From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Tennessee! One year ago, we set out on this journey with one goal: to make Tennessee America's conservative leader and show the nation what strong, bold, conservative leadership looks like. I am humbled and honored that you've chosen me as your Republican nominee for Governor. Together, we've taken a major step toward that goal. I won't let you down. On to November."
The potential Senate vacancy adds another layer to an already active landscape of Trump endorsements shaping Senate races across the South. Who would fill Blackburn's seat, and how that appointment process would unfold under Tennessee law, remains an open question that could become one of the more consequential political decisions of 2027.
The newly redrawn 9th Congressional District produced the most ideologically stark general election matchup of the night. State Sen. Brent Taylor, who carries Trump's endorsement, won the Republican nomination. On the Democratic side, state Rep. Justin Pearson, backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and embraced by members of the progressive "Squad", won his primary.
Pearson gained national attention in 2023 after being expelled from the Tennessee legislature following a gun control protest, an episode that made him one of the "Tennessee Three." His expulsion briefly turned him into a cause célèbre on the progressive left. Now he faces a November contest in a district Republicans specifically redrew to favor their candidates.
The math favors Taylor. Cohen, the longtime Democrat who held the old version of the seat, looked at the redrawn lines and walked away. If the district performs the way Republicans designed it to, Pearson's progressive credentials, and Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement, will be liabilities, not assets. But the race will test whether national progressive energy and name recognition can overcome a structural Republican advantage baked into the map itself.
Across multiple states this cycle, Trump-backed candidates have reshaped Republican primaries with striking consistency. In South Carolina, competitive Senate primary dynamics have shown how Trump's endorsement reshuffles the field even in races where the outcome is uncertain. Tennessee's split verdict, one Trump-backed candidate winning, another losing, is a reminder that endorsements still matter, but they are not a guarantee when redistricting, outside money, and local dynamics push back.
The Tennessee primaries leave several questions unanswered. Neither Ogles, Trump, nor Speaker Johnson issued public statements about the 5th District loss, at least not in the immediate aftermath. The specific Biden-era clean-energy subsidies that Ogles opposed, and that he says made him a target, remain undetailed. And the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition's chairman made clear the group intends to expand its operations into other Republican primaries nationwide.
That last point deserves attention. A super PAC funded by a Democratic billionaire just helped oust a sitting Republican congressman. The group's chairman openly promised to do it again. If Republican voters and party leaders do not grapple with the implications of that, they will find their primaries increasingly shaped by people who have no interest in Republican governance and every interest in picking the weakest possible nominees.
Redistricting gave Tennessee Republicans a shot at a perfect delegation. Whether they get it depends on November. But the cost of Thursday's primary, a Trump-endorsed incumbent defeated with Democratic money, is the kind of victory that should make the winners uneasy and the party pay closer attention to who is writing the checks.