Last night at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT, polls closed across Tennessee and votes were counted after citizens got another opportunity to make their voices heard at the ballot box. There were few true surprises, but plenty of eyebrow-raising moments. Let’s dive in.
Governor Race
Starting with the GOP nomination for Governor, which hasn’t been a competitive general election since Republicans took back the office when former Gov Bill Haslam was elected in 2010, Senator Marsha Blackburn won the contest with a plurality of support, beating back Congressman John Rose and State Representative Monty Fritts. In a race that started with Blackburn having a commanding lead in name ID, the three competitors waged a fairly hard battle that really turned up during July. Rose and Fritts slowly gained ground on Blackburn’s lead, chipping away throughout the summer, but in the end Blackburn’s advantages at the beginning of the race were too big to overcome. Blackburn will enter November’s General Election vs Memphis City Councilwoman Jerri Green, the Democratic nominee, as the enormous favorite.
U.S. Senate Race
Elsewhere federally, Senator Bill Hagerty was unopposed in his primary. He’ll face Democratic nominee Marquita Bradshaw in the General Election, a rematch of the 2020 race.
Congressional District 5
Coming into the week, we had our eyes on two open seats and one expected close race for an incumbent. Congressman Andy Ogles (TN-5) narrowly lost his GOP primary to former TN State Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher. Hatcher will face Chaz Molder in the General Election.
Congressional District 6
Congressman John Rose’s decision to run for Governor opened his TN-6 seat. Former Congressman (and former Rose Chief of Staff) Van Hilleary faced off vs State Representative and former House Majority Whip Johnny Garrett for the nomination. This race was expected to be extremely close but Garrett ended up pulling away with a comfortable 13 point margin by the end.
Congressional District 9
Congressman Steve Cohen’s (D-9) retirement after a mid-decade redistricting decision means that the 9th is expected to change political hands come November. But for now, State Representative Justin Pearson will carry the Democratic nomination, where he will face off with State Senator Brent Taylor, who won the GOP nomination over a cadre of candidates, including State Rep Todd Warner.
House Financial Services Members
We lost both of our House Financial Services members last night. So, we will be watching the committee assignments for the next Congress closely and hoping that at least one from our delegation is assigned to financial services.
Tennessee General Assembly
In the state General Assembly, no state senators are unseated in the primary this time around, in contrast to last cycle’s elections that saw State Senator Bobby Harshbarger unseat longtime Senator Jon Lundberg. However, the winds of change in Northeast Tennessee continued to blow, as House State and Local Government Committee Chairman John Crawford was unseated by Sullivan County Commissioner Jessica Means, 60%-40%.
Crawford wasn’t the only committee chairman to lose a primary. Dennis Powers, from Jacksboro, also lost in his competitive GOP primary to Noah Smith, a commercial airline pilot, in the 36th House District. Powers, the Private Acts Committee Chair, had previously served as the Banking & Consumer Affairs Subcommittee Chairman for four years before Tandy Darby took the post. Darby is unopposed in both his Primary and General Elections.
At the state level, through our State PAC, the Association makes campaign contributions to candidates who support credit union policies and initiatives. These candidates can be from either the majority or minority parties are most often either in leadership or who serve on our most relevant committees. For this particular election, every candidate our PAC supported won their race.
Credit Union Backed
At the federal level, in partnership with America’s Credit Unions, ACU PAC contributes to candidates for federal office. Four of five America’s Credit Unions PAC-supported candidates in Tennessee won their primary election on Thursday. In the past candidates previously supported by ACU PAC who won last night include:
1- Rep Diana Harshbarger
2- Rep Tim Burchett
4- Rep Scott DesJarlais
7- Rep Matt Van Epps
Politics are expensive these days. Every dollar helps us in our mission to serve credit unions and their members in front of government. We would love to be able to have a deeper conversation with your credit union on what that looks like and how we can continue to push the ball forward for the movement.
