President Donald Trump absorbed his second Republican primary defeat in days after Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles lost his bid for renomination in the state’s 5th Congressional District.
Former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher defeated the two-term incumbent, winning 53.2% of the vote to Ogles’ 46.8%.
The loss came despite Trump’s endorsement of Ogles, continuing a rare stretch of primary setbacks for the president’s preferred candidates.
Decision Desk HQ also projected Ogles would lose the primary. It followed another setback just two days earlier, when Trump-backed candidate Amir Hassan lost Michigan’s 8th Congressional District primary, marking a rare stretch of primary losses for a president whose endorsements have historically carried significant weight in Republican contests.
Hatcher’s path to victory
Hatcher, Tennessee’s former commissioner of agriculture, owns Hatcher Family Dairy in College Grove. He secured backing from establishment Republicans, including Gov. Bill Lee, former Gov. Bill Haslam, former Trump Cabinet member Sonny Perdue and former Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp.
Lee highlighted his long relationship with Hatcher in a social media post before the election.
Lee wrote that he and Hatcher had been friends for 25 years, recalling that he was a cattleman while Hatcher served as his veterinarian and that Hatcher spent seven years as his commissioner of agriculture before urging Tennesseans to support Hatcher’s campaign to “secure President Trump’s agenda.”
Outside spending also shaped the race.
The Freedom Caucus Fund spent more than $810,000 on media buys and robocalls supporting Ogles or opposing Hatcher beginning May 15. In the final days of the campaign, Hatcher benefited from roughly $2 million in independent advertising by the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, a political action committee targeting candidates who opposed renewable energy development.
Ogles pointed to that spending as evidence he was being targeted.
He told Fox News Digital that a group spending roughly $2 million in a Republican primary showed how much money it was making from government subsidies and suggested it was angry that “the welfare had been taken away.”
Despite unseating a Trump-endorsed incumbent, Hatcher has portrayed himself as a Trump ally rather than an opponent. His campaign website prominently features Trump, and Hatcher has praised the president, once saying Trump would have made “a fantastic farmer” because of his work ethic, while joking the job might not have been lucrative enough for him.
A congressman marked by controversy
Ogles, who took office in 2023, faced repeated controversies during his tenure, including misrepresenting his resume and failing to explain a personal loan listed on his campaign finance reports. His time in Congress was also marked by inflammatory statements that drew criticism from across the political spectrum.
Among the controversies, Ogles called for the denaturalization and deportation of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, sought a federal investigation into Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell following an immigration raid, demanded a congressional investigation into the NFL after conservatives criticized this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, and called for the National Guard to be deployed to Nashville despite declining crime rates.
He also drew scrutiny for comments about religious minorities, saying Muslims do not belong in American society.
At the start of Pride Month, Ogles posted that homosexuality “has no place in America” before deleting the post and apologizing, saying it had been published by a member of his communications staff.
Ogles also proposed a constitutional amendment allowing Trump to serve a third presidential term. In a June interview with Fox Business, he argued the measure would ensure “bold leadership” could continue, while acknowledging it would be “a challenge” to pass. He also introduced a bill referencing Trump’s stated interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark.
Redistricting reshaped the race
Tennessee lawmakers significantly redrew the 5th District to strengthen Republican prospects across the state’s congressional map.
The district now stretches from the affluent suburbs of Williamson County through rural West Tennessee into lower-income neighborhoods of Memphis.
According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, the new map shifted the district from likely Republican to solid Republican, making the district more favorable to Republican nominees. Under the same map, Rep. Steve Cohen‘s 9th District shifted from solid Democratic to solid Republican.
Hatcher will face Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder, the Democratic nominee, in the November general election.
Federal Election Commission data show Molder has significantly outraised Hatcher, collecting nearly $2.6 million compared with Hatcher’s more than $700,000. Even so, Hatcher is widely considered the favorite because of the district’s new Republican-leaning map.