Scott DesJarlaisRepublican · incumbent
Sherwood · Campaign website
Facts
- U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 4th District, first elected in 2010; serving his eighth term.[16] [17]
- Member of the House Armed Services and Agriculture committees; named chairman of the Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee in the 119th Congress.[16]
- Physician; earned a medical degree from the University of South Dakota and practiced general medicine in Marion County, Tennessee.[16] [18]
- Won the August 6, 2026 Republican primary for the redrawn 4th District.[2]
Why they're running
His campaign says he first ran for Congress after patients in his medical practice raised concerns about jobs, government spending, and health care. It says he continues to fight for fiscal discipline in Washington, a stronger economy, and an end to illegal immigration.[18] [19]
Platform
- Economy & jobs
- Reduce the national debt and cut regulations that raise costs for farmers and small businesses.[1]
- Taxes & spending
- Supports a constitutional balanced budget amendment and tax cuts and simplification for middle-class Americans and job creators.[1]
- Health care
- Opposes the Affordable Care Act and a single government-run "Medicare for All" system; favors buying insurance across state lines, short-term plans, and returning health decisions to patients and their doctors.[8]
- Immigration
- Build a physical wall along the southern border, add border agents and technology, and quickly arrest and deport immigrants who commit crimes.[11]
- Infrastructure & energy
- Expand domestic energy production, including new pipelines, natural gas exports, and coal and nuclear power.[1] [12]
- Firearms
- Protect Second Amendment rights.[1]
- Agriculture & rural
- Open foreign markets for farm products, enforce fair trade, and expand rural opportunity, including broadband.[14]
- Foreign policy & national security
- Maintain peace through strength with a strong military, and give service members the best tools to defend the country.[1] [15]
Arguments
Arguments for
- He has voted to cut income taxes and wasteful spending, balance the budget, and reform food assistance to help people find work.[16] [18]
- His seats on the Armed Services and Agriculture committees let him advocate for service members and Tennessee farmers.[16] [18]
- His legislation allowing service members to carry firearms at recruiting stations, written after the 2015 Chattanooga attack, became law in 2016.[16]
Arguments against
- After 15 years in office he is rarely seen in the district, and constituents say calls to his office go unanswered.[20]
- He strongly backed a federal budget law that cuts Medicaid (TennCare) in a district where, in some counties, about half of children rely on that coverage.[20]
- He signed a court brief supporting a lawsuit that challenged the results of the 2020 presidential election.[21]
- Despite his role shaping defense policy, he has not pushed back on the war in Iran, which is raising fertilizer and diesel costs for a rural farming district.[4] [20]