The former mayor of Maury County won his bid for U.S. Congress by a wide margin Tuesday night, defeating State Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) in Tennessee’s newly-drawn 5th Congressional District.
Ogles’ race, which was called just after midnight on Wednesday morning, showed the first-time congressional candidate winning 55.9 percent of the vote, to Campbell’s 42.3 percent.
Ogles was expected to win and was bolstered by other politicians in the state.
Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) stumped for Ogles and others Tuesday after spending his weekend on the campaign trail across the country, campaigning for Republican U.S. Senate candidates.
“We’ve got a new Congressional District right here with Andy Ogles,” Hagerty said in a Twitter video. “I want you to get out and vote for all of our Republican candidates for Congress. Vote for Governor Bill Lee, and please, please, if you’re in Nashville, get out and vote for Michelle Foreman for State Representative.”
It’s Election Day! Polls in Tennessee are open until 8 pm ET/7 pm CT. Make sure you #GoVoteTN. @BillLeeTN @AndyOgles @Michelle4TN @TNright2work pic.twitter.com/57GQS6cXze
— Bill Hagerty (@BillHagertyTN) November 8, 2022
On the issue 0f Amendment One, which would amend the Tennessee Constitution to make it a “right to work” state, Tennesseans voted overwhelmingly in favor of the change.
At press time, 69.7 percent of Tennesseans had voted in favor of the amendment, while only 30.3 percent of the voting populace voted against the amendment. The former percentage represents 968,630 voters. The latter represents 421,924 voters.
“Right to work” laws ban unions from requiring non-union members from paying dues, and guarantee employees a choice on whether he or she would like to participate in union activity.
U.S. House Republicans in Tennessee kept their seats. No Democrats unseated Republicans at the federal level.
Rep. John Rose (R-TN-06) was one of the victorious incumbents.
“Serving the people of Tennessee in the United States Congress is the honor of a lifetime,” Rose said in a statement. “My family and I are thankful for the support our community has shown us through my campaign for re-election, and I am beyond grateful that the people of Tennessee’s Sixth District placed their confidence in me to continue fighting hard for our Tennessee conservative values in Washington.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Jerrymandering the TN 5th Congressional District is NOT illegal or unethical. The only time it could be unconstitutional is if the redistricting process reduces the possiblity of a particular group of “minorities” (blacks, hispanics, asians, etc.) from possible representation. In this case it did not it only divided up a concentration of white democratic voters among 3 or 4 congressional districts rather than one. This happened for over 150 years when democrats controlled the TN Generally Assembly by “packing” most of the state’s republican voter into 3 congressional districts rather than 4. This happens in Florida, Texas, NY and California. So if TN democrats continue to cry about it then move back to NY or California.
Amendment One got passed because 1. most people never read it. 2. most people have no understanding of the Constitution 3. those that read it have no idea what it really meant. If the folks of TN had any clue they would not have voted yes for 1, 2, or 3. It is this ignorance that has destroyed this country and apparently will continue to do do. Glad to see that Ogles won though. Also, glad to see my choice for Governor (John Gentry) came in 3rd.
“Win” or not, I don’t recognize him as my 5th District Rep.
If that makes you feel good keep lying to yourself or leave the state!
I offer my congratulations to everyone who made Ogles’ election to Congress possible. Cooper was forced out, and the Republicans/Conservatives gained a seat that was ‘lost’ for decades. There is an old adage–personnel IS policy. That old adage is definitely true in this instance. The Democrats, nationwide, held an eight-seat margin in the U. S. House of Representatives. Tennessee, acting through its General Assembly and redistricting legislation this year, certainly did its part to send Nancy Pelosi and her crowd ‘packing’ and to more or less end the legislative initiatives of the Biden ‘presidency’ (i.e., Federal control of all elections in our country, D. C. Statehood, national abortion policy, national legislation to ‘pack’ SCOTUS, more national spending legislation which would make our national debt and inflation even worse than it now is, etc.). Good job, members of the Tennessee General Assembly!