Rep. Andy Ogles, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, lost in an upset to Tennessee’s former agricultural commissioner, Charlie Hatcher.
In an upset, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) was defeated by Charlie Hatcher in Tennessee’s Aug. 6 Republican primary for the state’s Fifth District.
Ogles, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, was first elected to the district in 2022. The House Freedom Caucus member’s territory was redrawn by the state legislature earlier this year.
The Associated Press called the race at 10:10 p.m. As of 10:37 p.m., with an estimated 82 percent of the vote counted, Hatcher, the former Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture, had 53.3 percent of the vote to 46.7 percent for Ogles.
Hatcher was backed by Tennessee’s outgoing Republican governor, Bill Lee.
Following Hatcher’s victory, he received laudations from Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), who posted a picture of the two men together at a campaign event.
Federal election records show that Ogles and Hatcher’s campaigns spent comparable amounts in the race. Hatcher was boosted by $2 million in late spending from the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, a political action committee backed by renewable energy executives.
Hatcher, a fifth-generation dairy farmer, veterinarian, and former state agriculture commissioner, ran under the slogan “Hire a Farmer” and billed himself as a “work-horse,“ rather than a ”show-horse.”
His agenda centered on treating agriculture as national security, protecting U.S. farmland, and securing the border, along with core conservative stands on issues such as abortion and gun rights.
Since his election in 2022, Ogles has aligned himself with the conservative faction of the House Republican conference, serving on the House Freedom Caucus.
Ogles has been outspoken in support of Trump’s presidency, the state of Israel, and a flurry of socially conservative positions.
In January 2025, Ogles proposed a constitutional amendment that would have enabled Trump—but not other former presidents—to seek a third term.
Specifically, it would have amended the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution so that presidents who won a nonconsecutive second term would be eligible for a third term.
In May 2024, Ogles sponsored a bill to send people who commit any crime on college campuses to the Gaza Strip to perform community service for six months. The language of the bill would have made Americans as young as 18 years old who were convicted of any misdemeanor crime on a college campus eligible to be brought to the region.
The U.S. State Department maintains a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory level for the Gaza Strip, indicating incredibly high danger and unique threats for Americans.
The upset defeat for Ogles marks the second race in which a Trump-backed candidate lost his Republican primary election in the same number of days.
On Tuesday, Trump-endorsed candidate Amir Hassan in Michigan was defeated by Tom Smith, a rival who had suspended his campaign ahead of the race.
By Nathan Worcester and Joseph Lord
