Tennessee Republicans largely increased or held their share of the vote compared to their performance in their past election, with Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) seeing the largest increase of the vote share when contrasting her successful 2018 campaign for U.S. Senate to her successful 2024 reelection.
Blackburn in 2018 received 54.7 percent of the vote, but increased her share by nearly 9 percent in her race against State Representative Gloria Johnson, trouncing the Democrat 63.8 percent to 34.2 percent, according to estimates at press time.
The senator also benefited from her reelection campaign coinciding with a presidential election year, which likely contributed to the 700,000 votes she picked up between 2018 and 2024.
President-elect Donald Trump also increased his vote share from 60.6 percent in 2020, when he beat President Joe Biden, to 64.2 percent in 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris received 34.5 percent of the vote.
Three of Tennessee’s seven Republican members of Congress additionally increased their margin of victory, while the remaining four lost little ground since their last election.
Those who increased their share of the vote include Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), who first won a contentious primary where he was outspent before defeating his Democratic opponent Maryam Abolfazli 56.9-39.5. Immediately after winning the primary, Ogles’ phone was seized by the FBI as his campaign filed amended finance reports, though it was later revealed he was not a “target” of the federal agency.
Despite the primary and Biden-Harris Department of Justice, Ogles increased his vote share by 1.1 percent during his first reelection to the U.S. House, having secured the votes of 55.8 percent of his district in 2022.
Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) saw a more significant increase in his vote share to 69.2 percent, up from 67.9 percent in 2022, while Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) increased his share from 66.3 percent of the electorate in 2022 to 67.5 percent in 2024.
While Representative David Kustoff (R-TN-09) secured a landslide victory, his election saw the biggest dip in his share of the vote of Tennessee’s congressional delegation, with his share of the vote decreasing from 74 percent to 72.7 percent.
Representatives Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-03), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01), and Scott DesJarlais also saw decreases in their share of the electorate of 0.8 percent, 0.2 percent, and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Despite having announced his retirement from Congress, only to reverse the decision after urging from Trump and his constituents, and despite claims about his personal life publicized in the press, Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) only saw his share of the vote decrease from 60 percent in 2022 to 59.5 percent in 2024.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Andy Ogles” by Andy Ogles. Photo “Marsha Blackburn” by Marsha Blackburn.
