Scott DesJarlais

6 primary election results. Republican Scott DesJarlais easily won the GOP nomination Thursday as he seeks reelection in Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District, recently redrawn to include a corner of Southeast Nashville. DesJarlais was first elected to Congress in 2010 as part of the Tea Party movement. He bested Thomas Davis, Joshua James and Harold Jones in Thursday’s primary. DesJarlais weathered intense scrutiny early in his tenure in Congress when it was revealed that the pro-life Republican had encouraged multiple women, including a mistress who was one of his patients, to get abortions. Victoria Broderick of Lincoln County won the Democratic primary. She has said she was first inspired to get involved in politics after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Broderick was also the Democratic nominee in 2024, when the district had slightly different borders. She lost to DesJarlais by more than 40 percentage points. Mike Cortese, a Nashville Metro councilmember, fell short in his run for the Democratic nomination. Cortese raised more than the rest of the Democratic and Republican candidates combined in the lead-up to Thursday’s primary. The first-term councilmember reported raising $741,733.20 and spending $619,475.47 as of July 17. Cortese was leading the Nashville vote count on Thursday night but not by enough to surpass Broderick’s lead elsewhere in the district. DesJarlais had raised $536,842.93 and spent $407,735.16 as of July 17. Because of leftover funds from earlier elections, DesJarlais should enter the general election campaign with a financial advantage over Broderick, who reported raising and spending less than $60,000. In addition to a corner of Nashville, the 4th District now includes most of Rutherford County and all of nine counties to the southeast of Nashville, including Tullahoma, Manchester and part of the Cumberland Plateau. Other candidates in the Democratic primary included Cliff Huffman, Tim Lanier and Joyce Neal. Related Stephen Elliott [email protected] Stephen Elliott is Metro reporter for the Banner. Previously, he spent more than seven years reporting on politics for the Nashville Scene and Nashville Post. He also spent more than two years as editor-in-chief of the Post. More by Stephen Elliott Why go searching when we can come to you? 🦅 Sign up for The Flyer daily newsletter and be the first to know. Delivered every weekday, for free. Sign in or register Close Continue Set a password (optional) We'll send a verification code to %EMAIL% . Send code Skip for now Link Copy link