State Rep. Garrett prevails in Republican primary for Tennessee’s 6th District

State Rep. Johnny Garrett of Sumner County won the Republican nomination for Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District and will advance to November’s general election.

Garrett turned back a bid by former U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary to return to Congress after leaving in 2002 for an ill-fated gubernatorial run. 

The Associated Press called the race just after 8:30 p.m. CDT, with Garrett holding 43% of the votes cast — a figure nearly identical to the percentage U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn earned in the Republican gubernatorial primary. 

Garrett’s campaign was closely tied to Blackburn’s — strategist Ward Baker ran both, as well as that of state Sen. Brent Taylor, who clinched the GOP nomination in the 9th Congressional District — and appeared jointly with Blackburn at an Election Day event in Wilson County.

Garrett was elected to the state House in 2018 and quickly rose in leadership, becoming majority whip, or the person responsible for wrangling Republican caucus votes. He backed Tennessee Republicans’ 2026 package of bills labeled “Immigration 2026,” crafted in coordination with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and proposed a measure that would have prohibited naturalized citizens from running for office. 

In 2023,  he led the expulsion hearings of three of his colleagues: Democratic Reps. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis, Justin Jones of Nashville and Gloria Johnson of Knoxville. Johnson escaped expulsion, and both Pearson and Jones were reappointed immediately after the expulsion and subsequently reelected.

More recently, Garrett focused on transgender Tennesseans, running a TV ad that featured a drag queen playing basketball that said he “spearheaded legislation that banned men from playing girl’s sports.”

A special legislative session in May that redrew Tennessee’s congressional districts carved up District 6, which has been held by U.S. Rep. John Rose since 2018, leaving just a sliver of Sumner County — Garrett’s stronghold — in the new district. 

Hilleary has served as chief of staff to Rose since Rose’s 2018 election to Congress. Rose finished second to Blackburn in the gubernatorial primary.