Columbia Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles secured a decisive victory against Metro Nashville Council member Courtney Johnston in the August Republican primary. Ogles, a former mayor of Maury County and member of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus, will now face Democrat Maryam Abolfazli in the November general election. Abolfazli, the founder of Rise and Shine Tennessee, is an advocate for stricter gun laws and better public education funding.
Ogles received substantial backing from political action committees for Americans for Prosperity and the House Freedom Caucus, which spent nearly $300,000 to support his campaign. He ran on a platform emphasizing his conservative credentials, including filing articles of impeachment against Vice President Kamala Harris.
The race between Ogles and Johnston was seen as a proxy battle between the Nashville-based wing of the Republican Party and more suburban and rural areas surrounding Columbia and Franklin. Johnston, supported by a PAC called Conservatives With Character, raised and spent nearly $640,000 on attack ads against Ogles.
The 5th District seat in Tennessee, previously held by Democrat Jim Cooper, now leans towards the Republican Party with a partisan advantage of +11 percentage points. Ogles won the seat in 2022 after defeating prominent Nashville figures, including former state House Speaker Beth Harwell. The November election will determine who will represent the district, which was redrawn to split Nashville across three separate districts.
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Photo credit tennesseelookout.com
