Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles easily won the Republican primary in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District on Thursday.
The Associated Press called the race for Ogles at 10:30 pm central time. His two leading opponents, Beth Harwell, former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, and retired Tennessee National Guard Brigadier General Kurt Winstead, conceded the race to Ogles shortly after 10 pm.
With 81 percent of the vote counted as of 10:40 pm on Thursday, Ogles had slightly over 36 percent of the vote. Harwell was in second place with 26 percent, and Winstead was in third place with 22 percent.
Ogles finished in first place in five of the six counties that comprise the newly created 5th Congressional District. Harwell won Davidson County, but Ogles won Williamson, Wilson, Maury, Marshall, and Lewis Counties.
The breakdown of votes for all nine candidates on the GOP ballot, as of 10:40 pm CT, was as follows:
| Candidate | Votes | PERCENTAGE |
|---|---|---|
|
Andy Ogles
|
21,298 | +36.9% |
|
Beth Harwell
|
14,998 | +26.0% |
|
Kurt Winstead
|
12,709 | +22.0% |
|
Jeff Beierlein
|
4,086 | +7.1% |
|
Natisha Brooks
|
1,740 | +3.0% |
|
Geni Batchelor
|
1,017 | +1.8% |
|
Timothy Lee
|
843 | +1.5% |
|
Stewart Parks
|
585 | +1.0% |
|
Tres Wittum
|
397 | +0.7% |
|
Total reported
|
57,673 |
Ogles will face State Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) in the November general election, where he will be the early favorite in a district that is rated likely Republican.
The race was expected to be neck and neck between Ogles, Harwell, and Winstead, but the combination of Ogles’ grassroots strength and heavy spending by SuperPACs who supported his candidacy, including two affiliated with the Club for Growth, proved to be more than enough to distance him from Harwell and Winstead, both of whom raised and spent much more money than Ogles did.
Ogles was the beneficiary of some high profile endorsements as well, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), popular radio host Dave Ramsey, country music star Trace Adkins, and the House Freedom Caucus.
The race in the Fifth Congressional District drew national attention in late January when former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, who moved to Tennessee in 2021, was endorsed by former President Trump. Both Ortagus and former California music video producer Robby Starbuck, who moved to Tennessee in 2019, were removed from the ballot by the Republican Party of Tennessee because they failed to meet the standards of being a “bona fide” Republican.
Starbuck sued to get back on the ballot, first in federal court, where he lost, then in state court, where an initial victory in chancery court was unanimously overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Starbuck subsequently mounted a write-in campaign in Thursday’s primary, but there is no official tally yet as to how many votes he received.
Late Thursday, Stephen Bannon invited Ogles to appear on Friday’s edition of WarRoom.
Andy Ogles! Please push a 10% flat tax! Let’s abolish the IRS!
Now if we just had a conservative governor.
I think the last time that happen Davey Crocket was in Congress.
Marvelous Marc Green (Heritage-97%) in ’26!
I think Andy is a great candidate.
However, not all of my favored candidates won their primaries. So I know how that feels.
Still, next up is a race vs. a democrat. All republicans who won are now *my* candidates.
We’ll need to band together against creeping growth of democrat influence out of Nashville.
I truly hope Mr. Ogles will be a Thomas Massie-like conservative in Congress.
Andy Ogles is the Tennessee conservative! Winstead and Harwell were the RINO / establishment candidates! Ogles will vote against new taxes, support a balanced federal budget amendment and not be conflicted with buying, selling stocks in contrast to Tennesseans RINO Bill Hagerty! Congratulations Andy Ogles! Make us proud in the free state of Tennessee!
(Bill Hagerty in his first term is currently carrying a Heritage score of 88% and a Club for Growth score of 84% which apparently makes him an odd type of “RINO” indeed.)
Hopefully he fires his campaign manager and takes the race more serious. Heidi “Miss DUI” Campbell is going to have the Dem machine behind her. So if he runs the same half a**ed campaign, it will be tight.
As far as the other races in Davidson County, it proves Nashville is full of dummies. There was a chance to get SOME accountability in MNPS, but the voters chose to put in more Lib hacks.
No one likes it when their candidate loses, but Conservatives, right-leaning Independents, and Republicans need to rally behind Andy Ogles and win TN05 in November.
Everyone willing to step up and run for office has my respect – but most do not earn my vote.
Now is NOT the time for anyone to either gloat or sulk! There is a NEW seat in Congress to be won in the coming November general election! The seat for the capital of the State of Tennessee, formerly one of the bluest, looks like it will now become one of the reddest. Congratulations Andy Ogles! Now go to Washington and make us all proud!
Ogkes represents a new generation of leadership! I am glad we turned the page on the older generation that represents the financial and personal enrichment than representing hard working Tennesseans! Senator Hagerty is not the kind of elected officials we need! Hagerty represents the swamp and personal enrichment with his stock trades! ogles will make us proud and as he will put Tennesseans ahead of the establishment and the Washington swamp! Congratulations Andy Ogles!!
Well folks I got this one WRONG. . .and I couldn’t be happier being wrong. Andy was the proven conservative in this race and despite the fact that he was invisible for most of the race he won by a comfortable margin anyway. Now he will go on to the House and I fully expect his Heritage scores to be in the high 90’s. CONGRATULATIONS ANDY!!!!