Tennessee's 4th Congressional District elections, 2014

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	; ; Tennessee's 4th Congressional District
	General Election Date ; November 4, 2014
	Primary Date ; August 7, 2014
	November 4 Election Winner: ; Scott DesJarlais
	Incumbent prior to election: ; Scott DesJarlais
	Race Ratings; Cook Political Report: Solid Republican; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe R
	Tennessee U.S. House Elections District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9
	2014 U.S. Senate Elections
	2014 U.S. House Elections

The 4th Congressional District of Tennessee held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. In August 2013, Politico labeled Republican Scott DesJarlais the incumbent most likely to lose his primary election. The prediction was wrong. DesJarlais defeated state Sen. Jim Tracy by just 38 votes in the August 7 Republican primary.^[3]^[4]

In a written statement, Tracy announced on August 25 that he would not ask for a recount. He said, “I am not willing to put the State Republican Primary Board, the Secretary of State’s Office and Division of Elections, the County Election Commissions, the campaign staff, my volunteers, my family and the public through additional weeks of litigation, with uncertainty as to who the nominee will be. . . A contest would not be the right thing for the Republican Party and the conservative cause in Tennessee."^[5]

Tracy did not directly address DesJarlais’ scandal-plagued past until days before the election when his campaign released ads and a mailer attacking the congressman's character. The attacks, however, were unsuccessful. According to Roll Call, "Republicans said many in the district hax already forgiven DesJarlais’ behavior."^[6] DesJarlais had the fourth most conservative voting record in Congress at the time of the primary, a point he emphasized during the campaign.^[7] Robert Jameson, a DesJarlais spokesman, said, “We're glad that the voters chose to judge the congressman on his record in Washington, rather than the disgusting, disingenuous smear tactics propagated by Sen. Tracy's campaign.”^[3]

DesJarlais defeated Lenda Sherrell (D) and Robert Doggart (I) in the general election. After a contentious primary, the race was rated a "Safe Republican" contest by Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call.^[8]

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
April 3, 2014	August 7, 2014	November 4, 2014

Primary: A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Tennessee utilizes a closed primary process; a voter must either be registered with a political party or must declare his or affiliation with the party at the polls on primary election day in order to vote in that party's primary.^[9]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Voter registration: To vote in the primary, voters had to register by July 8, 2014. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 6, 2014.^[10]

See also: Tennessee elections, 2014

Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Scott DesJarlais (R), who was first elected in 2010.

Tennessee's 4th Congressional District is located in the central and southcentral portion of the state. The district includes all of Bedford, Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, Meigs, Moore, Rhea, Rutherford, Sequatchie, and Warren counties and sections of Bradley, Maury, and Van Buren counties.^[11]

Candidates

General election candidates

August 7, 2014, Republican Primary

Election results

General election

**U.S. House, Tennessee District 4 General Election, 2014**
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Scott DesJarlais Incumbent	58.3%	84,781
	Democratic	Lenda Sherrell	35.3%	51,338
	Independent	Robert Doggart	6.4%	9,238
Total Votes				145,357
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State Vote totals above are unofficial and will be updated once official totals are made available.

Republican primary

**U.S. House, Tennessee District 4 Republican Primary, 2014**
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Scott DesJarlais Incumbent	44.9%	34,793
Jim Tracy	44.8%	34,755
John Anderson	5.9%	4,592
Steve Lane	1.9%	1,483
David Tate	1.2%	938
Michael Warden	0.9%	659
Oluyomi Faparusi	0.4%	284
Total Votes		77,504
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State

Race background

Primary to watch

In August 2013, Politico published a list of the five primaries to watch in 2014. Tennessee's 4th Congressional District was included on the list.^[14] According to Politico, there was no incumbent more likely to lose a primary than Scott DesJarlais, the scandal-plagued sophomore Republican congressman.^[14] During the final weeks before the 2012 general election, sworn testimony from his 2001 divorce trial was uncovered in which DesJarlais, a former physician and hospital chief of staff, acknowledged having sexual relationships with patients and even prescribing drugs to one of them.^[14] DesJarlais still managed to win re-election in the conservative district.^[14]

DesJarlais' cancer

On July 11, 2014, DesJarlais announced that he had early stage cancer in his neck. DesJarlais had radiation and chemotherapy treatments in August during the congressional recess. DesJarlais released the following statement: “I am extremely fortunate to have caught this disease in its early stage. My doctors and I expect a full recovery and that treatment will not interfere with my work in Congress. My wife, Amy, and our entire family are thankful for prayers and support during this period of treatment. I look forward to continuing to serve Tennessee’s Fourth District as we fight to return our nation back to the constitutional principles it was founded on.”^[15]

Key votes

Below are important votes that DesJarlais cast during the 113th Congress.

National security

NDAA

DesJarlais voted in support of HR 1960 - the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The bill passed the House on June 14, 2013, with a vote of 315 - 108. Both parties were somewhat divided on the vote.^[16]

DHS Appropriations

DesJarlais voted in support of HR 2217 - the DHS Appropriations Act of 2014. The bill passed the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 245 - 182 and was largely along party lines.^[16]

Keystone Pipeline Amendment

DesJarlais voted against House Amendment 69, which would have amended HR 3 to "require that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, conduct a study of the vulnerabilities of the Keystone XL pipeline to a terrorist attack and certify that necessary protections have been put in place." The amendment failed on May 22, 2013, with a vote of 176 - 239 and was largely along party lines.^[16]

CISPA (2013)

DesJarlais voted in support of HR 624 - the CISPA (2013). The bill passed the House on April 18, 2013, with a vote of 288 - 127. The bill permitted federal intelligence agencies to share cybersecurity intelligence and information with private entities and utilities.^[17] The bill was largely supported by Republicans but divided the Democratic Party.^[16]

Economy

2014 Farm bill

On January 29, 2014, the U.S. House approved the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, H.R. 2642, also known as the Farm Bill.^[18] The bill passed by a vote of 251-166. The nearly 1,000-page bill reformed and continued various programs of the Department of Agriculture through 2018. The $1 trillion bill expanded crop insurance for farmers by $7 billion over the next decade and created new subsidies for rice and peanut growers that would kick in when prices drop.^[19]^[20] It also cut the food stamp program an average of $90 per month for 1.7 million people in 15 states.^[20] DesJarlais voted with 62 other Republican representatives against the bill.

2014 Budget

On January 15, 2014, the Republican-run House approved H.R. 3547, a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September 30, 2014.^[21]^[3] The House voted 359-67 for the 1,582 page bill, with 64 Republicans and three Democrats voting against the bill.^[3] The omnibus package included 12 annual spending bills to fund federal operations.^[22] It included a 1 percent increase in the paychecks of federal workers and military personnel, a $1 billion increase in Head Start funding for early childhood education, reduced funding to the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency and protected the Affordable Care Act from any drastic cuts. DesJarlais joined with the 63 other Republicans and 3 Democrats who voted against the bill.^[21]^[3]

2013 Farm bill

See also: United States Farm Bill 2013

DesJarlais voted for July 11, 2013 Farm Bill. The bill passed in a 216-208 vote.^[23] The bill passed included farm policy, but did not include food stamps.^[24]

Government shutdown

See also: United States budget debate, 2013

On September 30, 2013, the House passed a final stopgap spending bill before the shutdown went into effect. The bill included a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and would have also stripped the bill of federal subsidies for congressional members and staff. It passed through the House with a vote of 228-201.^[25] At 1 a.m. on October 1, 2013, one hour after the shutdown officially began, the House voted to move forward with going to a conference. In short order, Sen. Harry Reid rejected the call to conference.^[26] DesJarlais voted to approve the stopgap spending bill that would have delayed the individual mandate.^[27]

The shutdown ended on October 16, 2013, when the House took a vote on HR 2775 after it was approved by the Senate. The bill to reopen the government lifted the $16.7 trillion debt limit and funded the government through January 15, 2014. Federal employees also received retroactive pay for the shutdown period. The only concession made by Senate Democrats was to require income verification for Obamacare subsidies.^[28] The House passed the legislation shortly after the Senate, by a vote of 285-144, with all 144 votes against the legislation coming from Republican members. DesJarlais voted against HR 2775.^[29]

Immigration

Morton Memos Prohibition

DesJarlais supported House Amendment 136 - Prohibits the Enforcement of the Immigration Executive Order. The amendment was adopted by the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 224 - 201. The purpose of the amendment as stated on the official text is to "prohibit the use of funds to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the Morton Memos." These memos would have granted administrative amnesty to certain individuals residing in the United States without legal status.^[30] The vote largely followed party lines.^[31]

Healthcare

Repealing Obamacare

DesJarlais supported all attempts to repeal or delay the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.^[32]

Government affairs

HR 676

See also: Boehner's lawsuit against the Obama administration

On July 30, 2014, the U.S. House approved a resolution 225 to 201 to sue President Barack Obama for exceeding his constitutional authority. Five Republicans--Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Paul Broun of Georgia, Scott Garrett of New Jersey, Walter Jones of North Carolina and Steve Stockman of Texas-- voted with Democrats against the lawsuit, and 225 Republicans voted in favor of the lawsuit.^[33] All Democrats voted against the resolution. Scott DesJarlais did not vote.^[34]^[35]

Polls

DesJarlais v. Tracy
Poll	Scott DesJarlais	Jim Tracy	Undecided	Margin of Error	Sample Size

Right Way Marketing June 5-6, 2014	44.72%	20.42%	29.62%	+/-N/A	1,337
Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org

Media

Scott DesJarlais

Scott DesJarlais' July 2014 ad, "The Choice."

Lenda Sherrell

Lenda Sherrell for Congress, "Worthy of your trust."

Lenda Sherrell for Congress, "Addresses Domestic Violence."

Jim Tracy

Jim Tracy, "Signature."

Jim Tracy, "Bankrupt."

Jim Tracy, "Oath."

Jim Tracy, "DesJarlais Abortion Scandal."

Steve Lane

Steve Lane, "Join Me."