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Tennessee Conservative News [By Olivia Lupia] –
After the August 6, 2026, Republican primary elections, several true conservative candidates either kept their seats or will be taking one, including Michele Reneau in HD27, who overcame left-wing PAC attacks and intense RINO opposition to retain her seat, Tennessee Conservative-endorsed Jessica Means, who dominated in her race to oust longtime RINO John Crawford, and various State Executive Committee races won by conservatives despite shadow PACs attempting to sway the elections.
But while there were a few victories for Tennessee conservative voters, the election results show that conservatives also suffered some disappointments. Several candidates could not overcome entrenched incumbents while others struggled against massive amounts of dark money and establishment support funneled into their races, perhaps most notably in the loss of U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles.
Below are the results of state and federal-level Republican contested races: Governor, U.S. House & Senate, TN House & Senate, and State Executive Committee. Note that uncontested Republican primary races are not listed. Full election results are available on the Secretary of State website.
Tennessee Governor- Blackburn Wins
Marsha Blackburn- 311,065 votes: 43.54%
John Rose- 235,431 votes: 32.95%
Monty Fritts- 167,944 votes: 23.51%
U.S. Senate
Incumbent Sen. Bill Hagerty was uncontested and is the Republican nominee.
U.S House of Representatives
District 4: Scott DeJarlais (39,491 votes: 65.9%) WINS over Thomas E. Davis (9,777 votes: 16.31%), Harold “Rocky” Jones (6,064 votes: 10.12%), & Joshua James (4,596 votes: 7.67%)
District 5: Charlie Hatcher (36,524 votes: 53.24%) WINS over Andy Ogles (32,078 votes: 46.76%)
District 6: Johnny Garrett (37,371 votes: 43.63%) WINS over Van Hillery (25,485 votes: 29.75%), Jon Henry (16,783 votes: 19.6%), & Natisha Brooks (6,013 votes: 7.02%)
District 9: Brent Taylor (31,031 votes: 46.02%) WINS over Todd Warner (17,771 votes: 26.36%), Jeremy Thompson (13,480 votes: 19.99%), & Charlottee Bergmann (5,146 votes: 7.63%)
Tennessee Senate
District 1: Adam Lowe (15,314 votes: 65.17%) WINS over Teresa Congioloso (4,489 votes: 19.11%) & Dennis Beavers (3,694 votes:15.72%)
District 3: Rusty Crowe (15,820 votes: 59.83%) WINS over Dan Pohlgeers (10,621 votes: 40.17%)
District 7: Richard Briggs (13,686 votes: 66.33%) WINS over Kent Morrell (6,948 votes: 33.67%)
District 17: Mark Pody (15,311 votes: 67.58%) WINS over Theodore “Butch” Baker (7,345 votes: 32.42%)
District 31: Brent Taylor (20,490 votes: 100%) WINS *NOTE: Taylor also won the nomination for TN-9 and may campaign for both seats, allowing him to remain in the General Assembly should he lose his federal bid in the November general election but still win the SD31 race.
Tennessee House
District 1: Jessica Means (4,021 votes: 60.97%) WINS over John Crawford (2,574 votes: 39.03%)
District 8: Jordan Henderson (5,873 votes: 62.39%) WINS over Tony J. Crisp (3,540 votes: 37.61%)
District 11: Kenny Cody (7,432 votes: 70.81%) WINS over Jeff Fancher (3,063 votes: 29.19%)
District 18: Elaine Davis (5,254 votes: 62.65%) WINS over Brent Jones (2,760 votes: 32.91%) & Elliott Schuchardt (372 votes: 4.44%)
District 23: Mark Cochran (5,214 votes: 63.3%) WINS over Will Bolton (3,023 votes: 36.7%)
District 27: Michele Reneau (6,030 votes: 58.3%) WINS over Tony Hullender (4,313 votes: 41.7%)
District 31: Andy Swafford (6,901 votes: 57.11%) WINS over Harold “Bo” McCawley (5,182 votes: 42.89%)
District 32: Jack Stockton (6,483 votes: 59.84%) WINS over Melissa Caldwell Browder (3,808 votes: 35.15%) & Paul Suarez (543 votes: 5.01%)
District 36: Noah Smith (8,034 votes: 66.97%) WINS over Dennis Powers (3,963 votes: 33.03%)
District 43: Paul Sherrell (7,415 votes: 64.2%) WINS over DeWayne Howard (4,135 votes: 35.8%)
District 44: William Lamberth (5,250 votes: 78.56%) WINS over Jennifer Janay Barton (1,433 votes: 21.44%)
District 45: Brian Stewart (3,295 votes: 48.66%) WINS over Chris Hughes (1,789 votes: 26.42%) & John Gentry (1,688 votes: 24.92 %)
District 65: Lee Reeves (5,523 votes: 54.48%) WINS over Michelle Foreman (4,615 votes: 45.52%)
District 78: Perry Keenan (4,492 votes: 55.91%) WINS over John Louallen (3,543 votes: 44.09%)
District 81: Brett A. Giannini (4,387 votes: 57.23%) WINS over Jason Fleming (3,278 votes: 42.77%)
District 92: Todd Warner (4,430 votes: 52.17%) WINS over Vincent A. Cuevas (4,062 votes: 47.83%) *NOTE: Warner will remain the Republican nominee for HD92 as Brent Taylor secured the federal TN-9 nomination.
District 99: Tom Leatherwood (5,584 votes: 65.64%) WINS over Amber Mills (2,923 votes: 34.36%)
Republican State Executive Committee (These races are the general election- winners will serve on the SEC)
District 1 Committeewoman: Emily G. Beaty (11,953 votes: 61.65%) WINS over Judy Bowman Cooley (7,437 votes: 38.35%); Committeeman was uncontested
District 3 Committeewoman: Anita Hodges-Taylor (12,237 votes: 54.42%) WINS over Stephanie Radford (10,250 votes: 45.58%); Committeeman was uncontested
District 4 Committeeman: Dan Bolton (7,852 votes: 44.56%) WINS over Matthew Jerry Johnson (5,777 votes: 32.79%) & Michael Hannan (3,991 votes: 22.65%)
District 4 Committeewoman: Linda Buckles (11,266 votes: 61.53%) WINS over Leah M. Bolton (7,044 votes: 38.47%)
District 5 Committeeman: Zach Farrar (11,314 votes: 59.83%) WINS over Lucas Heaton (7,595 votes: 40.17%)
District 5 Committeewoman: Sherri Garrett (11,616 votes: 62.97%) WINS over Amy Poteet (6,830 votes: 37.03%)
District 6 Committeeman: Brian Hornback (10,553 votes: 55.16%) WINS over Martin Ammons (8,580 votes: 44.84%)
District 6 Committeewoman: Gwen Baxter (11,943 votes: 65.75%) WINS over Jane Chedester (6,222 votes: 34.25%)
District 7 Committeewoman: Staci Beeler (13,795 votes: 78.44%) WINS over Janis C. Crye (3,791 votes: 21.56%); Committeeman was uncontested
District 8 Committeeman: Bobby D. Johnson (11,194 votes: 53.45%) WINS over Sidney A. Jessee, Jr. (9,749 votes: 46.55%)
District 8 Committeewoman: Deborah Bailey (12,052 votes: 61.78%) WINS over Patty Mills (7,456 votes: 38.22%)
District 9 Committeewoman: Rebecca Skelton (12,261 votes: 61.5%) WINS over Nancy Wilson (7,677 votes: 38.5%); Committeeman was uncontested
District 11 Committeeman: Derek Greene (11,991 votes: 56.04%) WINS over David G. Queen (9,407 votes: 43.96%)
District 11 Committeewoman: Jane Armstrong (14,640 votes: 73.59%) WINS over Tina Benkiser (5,254 votes: 26.41%)
District 12 Committeeman: Ronald Berry (16,155 votes: 63.19%) WINS over Ben Gann (9,409 votes: 36.81%)
District 12 Committeewoman: Ann Ayers-Colvin (13,000 votes: 52.35%) WINS over Eva Brown (11,831 votes: 47.65%)
District 13 Committeeman: Jon Wayne James (6,382 votes: 48.66%) WINS over Dray Curtis (3,919 votes: 29.88%) & Joshua Rosales (2,814 votes: 21.46%); Committeewoman was uncontested
District 14 Committeewoman: Lynne Gentry Davis (11,363 votes: 75.84%) WINS over Joanne Thompson Skidmore (3,620 votes: 24.16%); Committeeman was uncontested
District 16 Committeeman: David Alexander (12,915 votes: 53.61%) WINS over Greg Sandlin (5,631 votes: 23.38%) & Jenny Anderson (5,542 votes: 23.01%)
District 16 Committeewoman: Cile T. Alexander (12,315 votes: 53.71%) WINS over Iva Michelle Smith (10,612 votes: 46.29%)
District 17 Committeeman: Brad Lytle (11,463 votes: 59.36%) WINS over Derek Truelove (7,847 votes: 40.64%); Committeewoman was uncontested
District 18 Committeeman: Mark Evans (12,612 votes: 73.05%) WINS over Craig Garton (4,652 votes: 26.95%)
District 18 Committeewoman: Shannon Burgdorf (10,671 votes: 62.13%) WINS over Janna Garton (6,503 votes: 37.87%)
District 20 Committeewoman: Lulu Elam (6,153 votes: 59.63%) WINS over Annalisa Z. Young (4,165 votes: 40.37%); Committeeman was uncontested
District 25 Committeewoman: Lee Eddleman (11,636 votes: 62.32%) WINS over Shannon Haynes (7,035 votes: 37.68%); Committeeman was uncontested
District 26 Committeeman: Johnny Bellis (11,331 votes: 56.46%) WINS over Bob Hendry (8,738 votes: 43.54%); Committeewoman was uncontested
District 27 Committeeman: Steve Allbrooks (14,141 votes: 62.51%) WINS over Steven Tyler Giorno (8,480 votes: 37.49%)
District 27 Committeewoman: Mary Kate Brown (14,355 votes: 62.03%) WINS over Cyndi Miller (8,786 votes: 37.97%)
District 28 Committeeman: Chris Morris (12,147 votes: 57.46%) WINS over Dennis Driggers (8,994 votes: 42.54%); Committeewoman was uncontested
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
5 Responses
Thanks! Great information in one package!!
I’m glad Monty Fritts was rejected by voters. He’s a real nutcase.
I was especially heartened to see John Crawford, the chairman of the House State and Local Government Committee who a few years back had trouble hearing the voice vote in which his committee voted to close the primaries, lose his re-nomination bid to Jessica Means. Hopefully this is the beginning of opposition to closing the primaries being the third rail of TN Republican politics.
Andy Ogles has a PERFECT 100% lifetime Heritage conservative score so the question is how much worse will Charlie Hatcher be. Van Hilleary was always comfortably in the Heritage 90%+ range in his previous stint in the House. Apparently the voters in the 6th want to see how much worse will Johnny Garrett be after the TLRC rates him as a tepid conservative in the TN General Assembly. Conservatives better keep an eye on those two.
Most troubling of all, in Williamson Cty we are actually going to get a clearly labelled DEMOCRAT on the county commission and a clearly labeled DEMOCRAT on the school board to join the other Democrat school board member who at least had to sneak in as an “Independent”. That’s what is so concerning, the Democrats are now gaining county offices without having to sneak in as “Independent” anymore.
Let’s look at Andy Ogles’ positions, shall we? Ogles once tweeted, “Homosexuality has no place in America.” In March 2026, Ogles earned criticism from all sides after posting that “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” In March, Ogles called for deporting all Muslims from the United States regardless of citizenship status, including NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In February, Ogles demanded a federal investigation into the NFL and NBC for “explicit gay sex acts and glorifying sodomy” during the Super Bowl halftime show. Ogles has filed House resolutions calling for Trump to be added to added to Mount Rushmore and for Trump to have a third term. Is it any wonder voters turned him down?
Of course, you may be right. Perhaps the voters of the newly crafted 5th got rid of him because of those statements. If so, it would make me feel better than my analysis.
When the Republican Party finally decided to eliminate Steve Cohen they had to parcel out the Memphis Democrats in digestible chunks to as many Republican districts as possible. The Fifth’s share entailed moving the district through a number of rural counties through the northwest corner of the state, then down the eastern bank of the Mississippi into Memphis to the TN southern border. This entailed the need for Andy to do some serious fundraising and campaigning among a population that never heard of him given his base in Maury County. Andy was notorious for his inability and/or unwillingness to raise money and vigorously campaign. I think it was that meeting of a radically revised district with his limitations in campaigning that did him in.