Incumbent Republican Reps. Elaine Davis of Knoxville and Mike Sparks of Smyrna won Tuesday in districts targeted by Tennessee Democrats. (Davis photo: ElectElaineDavis.com, Sparks photo: Tennessee General Assembly)
Tennessee Republicans turned back challenges from Democrats in six targeted races, ensuring Democrats remain in a solid super minority for the next two years.
Democrats targeted four House races to flip. Wins in all four would have cut the number of seats the party needs to win to get out of super minority status to 11, but the party lost all four races.
And the Democratic party managed to retain three Democratically held seats, as Shaundelle Brooks defeated Republican Chad Bobo in the race to replace retiring Nashville Democrat Darren Jernigan in District 60, while Rep. Ronnie Glynn in Clarksville-based District 67 narrowly defeated Republican newcomer Jamie Dean Peltz. Nashville Rep. Bo Mitchell prevailed in a contest with Metro Councilmember Jennifer Frensley Webb.
House District 18
Rep. Elaine Davis, a Knoxville Republican, retained her seat after defeating Bryan Goldberg, a Democratic newcomer.
Davis beat Goldberg 54% to 46%.
Goldberg focused on public education and health care, and remained competitive financially with Davis, who hewed to traditional Republican positions, including school safety, public safety and eliminating government red tape.
House District 49
Rep. Mike Sparks was returned to office Tuesday, beating back a challenger from political organizer Luis Mata in suburban Rutherford County. The outcome gave Sparks 57% to Mata’s 43%.
Sparks, a Republican first elected in 2012, took a hard line on immigration in his campaign, blaming illegal immigrants for strained finances in Rutherford County. Mata, a naturalized citizen whose family immigrated from Mexico, attempted to capitalize on changing demographics in the district.
House District 60
Nashville’s District 60, which takes in a swath of Davidson County ranging from Old Hickory on the northeast to Antioch in the southeast, will remain under Democratic control after gun safety advocate Shaundelle Brooks defeated Republican Chad Bobo, a former staff member for House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
Republicans hold no legislative seats within Davidson County and worked to win this one to give them a toehold in the state’s capital city.
Brooks, who became involved in politics after her son was killed in a 2018 mass shooting at a South Nashville Waffle House, beat Bobo 54% to 46%.
House District 67
In a nailbiter, Democratic Rep. Ronnie Glynn won reelection by 128 votes, defeating Jamie Dean Peltz, a Republican who campaigned on her support for infrastructure improvements, health care and opportunities for veterans.
This was Glynn’s second race to be decided by fewer than 200 votes: he won office in 2022 by 153 votes. On Tuesday, his percentage of votes was 50.3% to Peltz’s 49.7%.
House District 75
Allie Phillips, the Clarksville woman who ran for office because of her experience obtaining an out-of-state abortion after a nonviable pregnancy endangered her life, lost to first term Republican Rep. Jeff Burkhart.
Burkhart tallied 55% of the vote to Phillips’ 45%.
Even before Phillips entered the race, she gained a large following on social media by discussing her personal experience and received national media coverage. In 2023, she joined the Center for Reproductive Rights as a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s near-total abortion ban.
Burkhart, who previously endorsed Tennessee’s abortion law, focused his campaign messaging on fiscal conservatism, while also advocating for deeper investments in infrastructure, school security and law enforcement. He also pledged to work to increase the Tennessee National Guard presence at the southern border.
House District 97
In Memphis, Republican Rep. John Gillespie defeated Democratic businessman Jesse Huseth 52% to 48%, notching a loss for Democrats who hoped to take control of the seat in a district with historically tight races.
Gillespie, a two-term representative, focused on “tough on crime” positions, touting his legislative record of supporting laws that enact harsher punishments for certain crimes. Gillespie rankled some Memphians with a 2024 bill he passed as a prime sponsor that reversed Memphis’ effort to stop police from making “pretextual” traffic stops. The city’s measures stemmed from the 2023 death of Tyree Nichols, who was beaten by Memphis police after such a stop.
First-time candidate Huseth, whose campaign prioritized funding for public education and opposition to school vouchers, safe storage for guns and support for a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation crime lab, kept pace with Gillespie on fundraising and received financial support from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
Cassandra Stephenson contributed to this story.
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