A Trump Republican and liberal state senator are facing off in a battle for the new 5th Congressional District seat, where lines are drawn to turn Tennessee’s delegation even redder.
Republican Andy Ogles, the former Maury County mayor and former director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee, and Democratic Sen. Heidi Campbell, the first female mayor of Oak Hill, are polar opposites on the political spectrum heading into the Nov 8 election. Early voting starts Oct. 19.
Ogles defeated former House Speaker Beth Harwell and retired Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead in the Republican primary, capturing the conservative vote to vault into the position as the favorite to capture an eighth Republican seat of nine positions in the state’s congressional delegation. The Republican-controlled legislature split Davidson County into three congressional districts this year as part of the redistricting required by federal law every 10 years, pushing Democratic Congressman Jim Cooper to opt out and putting Republicans in the driver’s seat for the once firm Democratic post.
Campbell, still in her first term as a state senator, opted to take up the mantle for Democrats and claims to have a 3-point lead on Ogles based on a survey she commissioned.
But in the newly-drawn district, Davidson County Democrats are likely overmatched by Republican voters from west Wilson, Williamson, Maury, Marshall and Lewis counties.