In Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District, A MAGA State Lawmaker Faces An Anti-Trump Navy Veteran

The redrawn district includes part of left-leaning Nashville and a larger swath of historically conservative counties to the east.

Image: Democrat Mike Croley (left) and Republican Johnny Garrett (right) are running for Congress in Tennessee’s 6th District. Image Credit: Martin B. Cherry / Nashville Banner & Canva.

***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only.

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Article by Steven Hale [The Nashville Banner, Creative Commons] –

The electoral contest in Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District pits a Republican state representative and MAGA diehard against a Navy veteran and former state park ranger running a Democrat campaign fueled by resistance to President Donald Trump’s administration. 

State Rep. Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) is running against Democrat Mike Croley to represent the newly redrawn district, which includes a slice of left-leaning Nashville and stretches some 200 miles east to the Appalachian Mountains region in Campbell County.

The district remains solidly Republican based on the results of recent presidential elections. But after former U.S. Rep. John Rose vacated the seat to make a bid for governor, whoever wins the November election to represent the area will be new to Congress. 

Despite that, after defeating former congressman Van Hilleary in the Republican primary, Garrett is working to project outsider energy and incumbent momentum at the same time.

After serving eight years in the state House, including seven as the Republican whip, Garrett — a self-described “pro-Trump Christian conservative” — has campaigned with the Republican gubernatorial favorite, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, and touted endorsements from U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville).

At the same time, he has pledged to fight against “the swamp” in Washington, D.C., and made the idea of making America more like Tennessee a theme of his campaign.

“We have people in this country who want to destroy it,” Garrett said in a video posted to Facebook earlier this month. “We have to continue to show up with your voice and vote Nov. 3. Let’s bring a lot of Tennessee to D.C.” 

Garrett did not respond to a Banner questionnaire to all candidates during the primary and his campaign did not respond to a recent request for an interview.

His campaign website highlights his support for Trump’s “America First” agenda and the administration’s mass deportation operations, including by “supporting President Trump’s use of the military and Guantanamo Bay to deport illegal immigrant criminals out of our country.”

In the legislature and during his primary campaign, Garrett has railed against the specter of transgender athletes in youth sports and emphasized the support of former collegiate swimmer and conservative influencer Riley Gaines. 

Croley spoke to the Banner by phone, with a warning that he might lose signal as he was driving through some of the more remote parts of the district to campaign.

Croley said he decided to run for Congress in part because he was drawn to public service after his experience working in the U.S. Departments of State and Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through a Presidential Management Fellowship.

He was also frustrated, he said, by Rose’s “poor representation” after Croley personally experienced a layoff at the hands of Elon Musk’s short-lived Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

Asked about his pitch to Trump-supporting and Republican voters, who make up the majority in the district by all indications, Croley cautioned that “this district has never voted in a general election because it’s been gerrymandered.” Still, he conceded that it is a “fairly conservative district” and that if he “didn’t do much of anything at all” he’d likely lose in a landslide. 

“But the reason our campaign is going to be successful is because people are so tired of not having their voices heard in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “And they’re tired of paying more for groceries and gas and healthcare. I think people are starting to see the writing on the wall about this administration.” 

In explaining his opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Croley noted his background as a park ranger who went through 12 weeks of training at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy. 

“We learned you have to identify yourself, you don’t conceal your face, you wear a uniform, you have a nametag. … I know what real law enforcement looks like and then you see what ICE is doing. They’re more like mercenaries than law enforcement,” he said.

His campaign describes itself as one built with a “Triple-A Blueprint”, for affordability, accessibility and accountability. But he has also declared opposition to the spread of data centers and U.S. support for the Israeli military, while expressing support for abortion rights. He has also said he is a gun owner who supports Second Amendment rights along with “safeguards around gun ownership.”

On social media and elsewhere, Croley has emphasized his anti-Trump identity and embraced defiant rhetoric. His campaign has promoted T-shirts bearing the slogans “Abolish ICE”, “Only Billionaires Should Go Extinct” and “Protect Trans Kids.” On Facebook, he has written an open letter to Trump calling the president “sexist and racist” as well as a “sexual assailant” who is “embarrassing and inept.”     

Croley said he has called Garrett’s office to invite him to debate — an invite he also extended in a social media video — but hasn’t received a response.   

Independent candidates Christopher Monday and Angus Purdy will also be on the ballot in November.