Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, a Trump-endorsed conservative, was swamped in Thursday’s GOP primary.
The man who upset him was Charlie Hatcher, a former Tennessee agriculture commissioner, who won 53.2% to 46.8% with over 95% of the vote counted Friday morning. He will likely win the general election in the solidly Republican district.
“Nobody likes to lose, but the results are in,” Mr. Ogles said in his concession speech.
Mr. Ogles, facing a steep funding disadvantage, had participated in telephone rallies with President Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, both of whom urged voters to keep him in office.
The Freedom Caucus Fund, a group that supports members of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, said it spent $750,000 trying to defend Mr. Ogles.
Mr. Hatcher benefited from spending by the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, a pro-green-energy PAC running ads in his favor.
“Ogles lost last night because a Super PAC bankrolled by left-wing California Democrats spent $2 million to raid the Republican primary,” Allison Weisenberger of the Freedom Caucus Fund told The Washington Times in an email.
Mr. Ogles, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, was among the Republicans who pushed to eliminate green energy subsidies in a recent party-line budget bill.
In response to Ms. Weisenberger, Thomas Matzzie, chairman of Invest in Tomorrow, said: “It’s gratifying to see the Freedom Caucus throwing a temper tantrum after we exposed that they can’t protect their members, but our mission is not partisan.”
“We are proud to help members of Congress, regardless of party, who recognize the irreplaceable role renewable energy plays in generating the future of American energy,” Mr. Matzzie said. “We are equally proud to punish those, regardless of party, who do not. Andy Ogles preferred to spend 3 years playing games for the cameras instead of delivering for his district and his country, and he suffered the consequences.”
Mr. Hatcher, although supported by green energy interests, described himself as “pro-gun,” “pro-life” and “pro-Trump” on his website.
Due to redistricting, Mr. Ogles, who had represented the Nashville area since 2023, was forced to compete for votes in a redrawn district that stretches to Memphis.
Mr. Hatcher told Nashville’s WSMV that he benefited from a solid relationship with farmers in the redrawn district.
“A lot of people didn’t know Andy Ogles or me in West Tennessee,” he said, “but if they were in the [agriculture] community, they knew Charlie. And that helped me.”
In the November election, Mr. Hatcher will go up against Democrat Chaz Molder, the mayor of Columbia.
Throughout the campaign, Mr. Hatcher urged voters to “hire a farmer” to represent them in Congress. “I consider myself a workhorse, and my opponent is a show horse,” he said in June.
Mr. Ogles went viral with explosive statements, such as calling for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s denaturalization and deportation and saying “homosexuality has no place in America.”
Mr. Hatcher told WTVF that he disagreed with Mr. Ogles’ post on homosexuality: “I think Speaker Johnson said it best when he quoted Scripture. He said the Bible says, ’Love your neighbor.’”
Mr. Ogles deleted that social media post, saying “a member of [his] comms team” posted it and disavowing it as “stupid, hurtful and a complete distraction from my America First focus.”
Mr. Trump said in a social media post Friday that Mr. Ogles “was a person who I remained loyal to even though he had virtually no chance of winning, and was running against a Great ’Trump’ Candidate.”
The president wished Mr. Hatcher “good luck” and endorsed him for the general election.
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