Tennessee primary sets up redrawn US House race central to GOP’s majority bid

Tennessee primary voters picked their nominees for a dramatically redrawn U.S. House seat that is central to President Trump's effort to preserve a slim Republican majority in the midterm elections. Republicans chose state senator Brent Taylor, who was endorsed by Trump, while Democrats selected state representative Justin Pearson, who gained national attention after being expelled from the Tennessee House for protesting gun control measures. The two will face off in November.

The ninth congressional district was reshaped this year after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities, allowing Republican officials to break apart what had been a compact, majority-Black, Memphis-based district. The new district now stretches about 200 miles east from Memphis through rural areas toward Nashville, with 71% of its voters new to the district, and has shifted from favoring Democrats to leaning Republican. Some Memphis voters said the change diminishes their representation.

Elsewhere in the state's primaries, Republican Rep. Andy Ogles, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus who had faced an FBI investigation into his campaign finance reporting, lost his fifth congressional district seat to former state agriculture commissioner Charlie Hatcher despite an early Trump endorsement. Hatcher, who campaigned as pro-Trump, was instead backed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee. In the governor's race to succeed Lee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn won the Republican primary and Memphis city council member Jerri Green won the Democratic primary.

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