USA06 August, 20263 min read
Anti-Muslim Congressman Andy Ogles Loses Tennessee Republican Primary To Charlie Hatcher
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Charlie Hatcher defeated Andy Ogles in a Republican primary for a newly redrawn Memphis-area district. Ogles was backed by President Trump, but his bid failed in the primary.
Ogles ousted in GOP primary
US Congressman Andy Ogles lost Tennessee’s Republican primary on Thursday, with the Associated Press declaring Charlie Hatcher the winner with 53.3% of the vote to Ogles’ 46.8% and 95% of precincts reporting.
“Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.”
The race marked a rare rejection of a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, after Trump gave Ogles a “complete and total endorsement” earlier on Thursday.
The Tennessee primaries also served as the first test of a newly configured congressional map redrawn in May by Republicans in the state after the US Supreme Court weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minority voters.
In the background of the primary, Republicans hold eight of Tennessee’s nine congressional seats and are seeking to win all nine in the November midterm elections, while Democrats try to capitalize on discontent with the economy and the war on Iran.
Ogles’ defeat followed controversy over a social media post criticized as Islamophobic by American Muslim advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers, including his March writing on X: “Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.”
Muslim remarks and competing narratives
Hatcher, the former Tennessee agriculture commissioner, will face Chaz Molder, the mayor of Columbia who won the Democratic primary with 40.9% of the vote in a crowded field.
Hatcher previously rejected Ogles’s anti-Muslim rhetoric, telling the Williamson Scene in June, “There’s Muslims that are American citizens, that are good, law-abiding people, and there’s soldiers in the US Army that are good warriors, so absolutely,”.
Osama Jamal, secretary-general of the US Council of Muslim Organizations, condemned the remarks, saying, "Hate and discrimination against one another have no place in America,".
The AP framed the outcome as voters setting a fall matchup for a redrawn Memphis-area House seat, reporting that Hatcher defeated U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles in a Republican primary Thursday for a significantly reshaped congressional district.
Al Jazeera described the same primary as the first test of Tennessee’s new congressional district map redrawn in May, with Republicans breaking apart the state’s one majority-Black district in Memphis long considered a Democratic stronghold.
Redistricting stakes for November
The primaries set the stage for November’s midterm showdowns by finalising the Democratic and Republican nominees for districts reshaped by Tennessee’s May redistricting. Al Jazeera said Tennessee’s redistricting came after the US Supreme Court weakened protections for minority voters under the federal Voting Rights Act in April, allowing Republican lawmakers to redraw their congressional map in a way that broke apart Memphis’s majority-Black district. AP reported that Republicans already hold eight of the state’s nine congressional seats and are going for a clean sweep of the districts in November, while the previously compact 9th Congressional District based in Memphis had a majority Black population and was represented by a Democrat.
In the 9th District, the new map stretches about 200 miles (320 kilometers) east from Memphis across rural areas before reaching north toward Nashville, with the AP estimate saying 71% of voters are new to the district. Pearson, who won the Democratic primary for the reshaped 9th District, said, “The political dilution and degradation of our rights is happening,” and added, “We’re one step closer to Washington, D.C.”