Tennessee will hold its primary election on August 4, 2022, and decide key races, which can potentially flip the balance of the US House of Representatives. Just days after a busy polling night in five states, Tennessee will be the only state to hold its elections this Thursday.

Tennessee Republicans and Democrats will pick their candidates for midterm elections in November. While no US Senate seat is up for grabs in the primary, the Congressional and gubernatorial races will be crowded.

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Governor’s office

Bill Lee, who currently serves as Tennessee’s governor, is a member of the Republican party. He will contest the primary election on Thursday without any challenge and will advance to the midterms. 

The Democratic side, however, will fight it out in the primaries. The three candidates who are running for the Democratic nomination for governor are JB Smiley Jr, Jason Martin and Carnita Atwater.

Congressional races

Tennessee Republicans on Thursday will settle a nine-way primary in a reconfigured congressional district in Nashville they are hoping to flip.

Redrawn congressional districts helped put Tennessee among the states where Republicans hope to flip a seat in a push to reclaim control of the US House of Representatives, providing the main drama in Tennessee’s Thursday primaries. 

There will be nine Congressional districts on the Tennessee ballot in the upcoming primary elections. Out of these, seven have Republican incumbents. The GOP has also clarified that it is installing candidates who can overturn the two seats held by Democratic lawmakers.

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State races

There is a full slate of state and local administrative elections in Tennessee on Thursday. These include the state House, state Senate, state Supreme Court, intermediate appellate courts, school boards and municipal offices.

The highlight of these races is in Shelby County — which encompasses Memphis — where Republican District Attorney Amy Weirich faces a challenge from Democratic civil rights lawyer Steven Mulroy.