NASHVILLE, Tennessee — US Congressman Andy Ogles, who has a history of anti-Muslim statements, lost Tennessee’s Republican primary on Thursday despite the endorsement of President Donald Trump to challenger Charlie Hatcher in a rare election defeat for a Trump-backed candidate.
The Associated Press declared Hatcher the winner with 53.3% of the vote to Ogles’ 46.8%, with 95% of precincts reporting.
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 has represented himself as pro-Trump, but the US president heaped praise on Ogles earlier on Thursday, giving the incumbent his “complete and total endorsement”.
The Tennessee primaries marked the first test of a newly configured congressional map redrawn in May by the Republicans in the state to help the party retain its majority in the House of Representatives after the US Supreme Court weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minority voters.
Republicans hold eight of Tennessee’s nine congressional seats and are seeking to win all nine in the November midterm elections, but Democrats are trying to capitalize on discontent with the economy and the war on Iran to flip seats across the country.
Ogles’ defeat followed controversy over a social media post criticized as Islamophobic by American Muslim advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers.
Ogles, a staunch Israel supporter, has faced outrage and anger from across the political spectrum for his comments against the Muslim community.
“Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie,” he wrote on X in March.
In 2024, when an activist asked Ogles on Capitol Hill if he had seen footage of Palestinian children killed by US-funded bombs, he said: “You know what? I think we should kill them all, if that makes you feel better.”
Hatcher previously rejected Ogles’s anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“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,” he told the Williamson Scene, a local publication in June.
Osama Jamal, secretary-general of the US Council of Muslim Organizations, condemned the remarks.
“Hate and discrimination against one another have no place in America,” Jamal said.
Although Hatcher did not receive Trump’s endorsement, he was backed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and campaigned as a pro-Trump candidate while emphasizing his farming background.
“The message resonated, and the message was: Work like a farmer, get things done and serve others,” Hatcher told The Associated Press after his victory.
Ogles is the second Trump-endorsed candidate to lose a primary this week.
On Tuesday, Amir Hassan, a Navy veteran in Michigan who was supported by the president, lost to Thomas Smith, a candidate who had suspended his campaign before the election.
The midterm election season in the US is in full swing. Both parties are choosing their candidates through primaries, state by state. All 435 US House seats and 35 out of 100 Senate seats will be up for grabs in November.
Source: Saudi Gazette