Earnest Ensley

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Earnest Ensley

Independent

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

High school

Bradley Central High School

Other

Covenant College, 2005

Personal

Birthplace

Cleveland, Tenn.

Religion

Born Again Christian

Profession

Retired

Contact

Personal Facebook

Earnest Ensley (independent) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Tennessee's 4th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Ensley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Earnest Ensley was born in Cleveland, Tennessee. Ensley earned a high school diploma from Bradley Central High School and graduated from Covenant College in 2005.

Elections

2024

See also: Tennessee's 4th Congressional District election, 2024

Tennessee's 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 1 Republican primary)

Tennessee's 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 1 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Tennessee District 4

Incumbent Scott DesJarlais defeated Victoria Broderick, Keith Nolan, and Earnest Ensley in the general election for U.S. House Tennessee District 4 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Scott DesJarlais (R)	70.0	219,133
		Victoria Broderick (D)	26.8	83,832
		Keith Nolan (Independent)	1.8	5,601
		Earnest Ensley (Independent)	1.5	4,689

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 313,255
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kathleen Cosgrove (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 4

Victoria Broderick advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 4 on August 1, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Victoria Broderick	100.0	11,708

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,708
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 4

Incumbent Scott DesJarlais defeated Thomas Davis and Joshua James in the Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 4 on August 1, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Scott DesJarlais	72.5	30,425
		Thomas Davis	19.0	7,988
		Joshua James	8.4	3,535

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,948
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Joe Doctora (R)
• Rickey Minton (R)
• Olson Parker (R)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Ensley in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Earnest Ensley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ensley's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Born in a family of 15 that included 10 brothers and 2 sisters all from the same mother and father. Married to Sheila with 2 sons, 2 daughters, 13 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren. One daughter deceased and 1 granddaughter deceased. I am a born-again believer in Christ and attends an Independent Baptist Church in Winchester. I have a Master’s degree from Covenant College in Wilmington, NC. I spent most of my life employed in the yarn and carpet industry in North Georgia specializing in print and dye as a certified technician. I was raised on a farm in Cleveland, TN and I can milk a cow, pick cotton, fry chicken, and change the brakes on my car. I do not use profanity, tobacco, and have never drank alcohol.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Foreign Aid: Stop all Foreign Aid for five years or longer until the national debt is paid down and we have a balanced budget; never spend more than you take in.
• Illegal Immigration: Close the border and stop all migration of illegal immigrants into the United States. Eradicate the cartels. Start deportation of illegal immigrants immediately.
• Social Security: Leave Social Security alone! Medicare: Single person with total income of $25,000 or less, no monthly insurance premiums. Married couple with combined total income of 40,000 or less, no monthly insurance premiums.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am adamant about preserving the constitution, pro-1st amendment, pro-2nd amendment with no red-flag laws, pro-law enforcement, and pro-life unless birth of a child would endanger the mother’s life or it was a case of rape or incest.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

No.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Integrity with a strong moral foundation.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

High integrity with strong morals and faith.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Control spending and stop the "pork". Support the needs of the people that I represent.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I was 11 years of age.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Employee of KFC for 1 year.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Bible. It guarantees eternal life.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Perry Mason!

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Amazing Grace.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

Appropriation and controlled spending.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

Yes, beneficial but not necessary.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Balancing the budget and control wasteful spending and coming together as one nation.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Yes.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

Should be discussed and revised.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

No.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Yes.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Full transparency and accountability on all levels of the government.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

---

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

---

Earnest Ensley campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House Tennessee District 4	Lost general	$0	N/A**
Grand total			$0	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also

2024 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Personal

Facebook

Footnotes

[show]

Tennessee's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Marsha Blackburn (R)

Bill Hagerty (R)

Representatives

District 1

Diana Harshbarger (R)

District 2

Tim Burchett (R)

District 3

Charles Fleischmann (R)

District 4

Scott DesJarlais (R)

District 5

Andy Ogles (R)

District 6

John Rose (R)

District 7

Vacant

District 8

David Kustoff (R)

District 9

Steve Cohen (D)

Republican Party (9)

Democratic Party (1)

Vacancies (1)