Tennessee's 4th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 6 Republican primary)
- Primary date: Aug. 6
- Primary type: Open
- Registration deadline(s): July 7
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: No
- Early voting starts: July 17
- Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Aug. 6 (received)
- Voter ID: Photo ID
- Poll times: Varies by locality
2022 →
← 2018
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| Tennessee's 4th Congressional District |
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 |
| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: April 2, 2020 |
| Primary: August 6, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent: Scott DesJarlais (Republican) |
| How to vote |
| Poll times: Varies by county Voting in Tennessee |
| Race ratings |
Inside Elections: Solid Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th Tennessee elections, 2020 U.S. Congress elections, 2020 U.S. Senate elections, 2020 U.S. House elections, 2020 |
A Republican Party primary took place on August 6, 2020, in Tennessee's 4th Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate would run in the district's general election on November 3, 2020.
Incumbent Scott DesJarlais advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 4.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
Heading into the election, the incumbent was Scott DesJarlais (Republican), who was first elected in 2010.
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.[1]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
This page focuses on Tennessee's 4th Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- Tennessee's 4th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 6 Democratic primary)
- Tennessee's 4th Congressional District election, 2020
Election procedure changes in 2020
Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.
Tennessee made no changes to its primary election.
For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.
Candidates and election results
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 4
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Scott DesJarlais | 71.1 | 55,194 |
| Doug Meyer | 18.3 | 14,184 | ||
| Randy Sharp | 10.7 | 8,289 | ||
| Total votes: 77,667 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
 = 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. | ||||
District analysis
- See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
- See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores
The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+20, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 20 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Tennessee's 4th Congressional District the 33rd most Republican nationally.[2]
FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.04. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.04 points toward that party.[3]
Campaign finance
The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott DesJarlais | Republican Party | $332,279 | $393,314 | $302,649 | As of December 31, 2020 |
| Doug Meyer | Republican Party | $21,652 | $18,028 | $3,624 | As of December 31, 2020 |
| Randy Sharp | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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General election race ratings
- See also: Race rating definitions and methods
Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:
- Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
- Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
- Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[4]
- Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.
Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[5][6][7]
| Race ratings: Tennessee's 4th Congressional District election, 2020 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| November 3, 2020 | October 27, 2020 | October 20, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season. | |||||||||
See also
- Tennessee's 4th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 6 Democratic primary)
- Tennessee's 4th Congressional District election, 2020
- United States House elections in Tennessee, 2020 (August 6 Democratic primaries)
- United States House elections in Tennessee, 2020 (August 6 Republican primaries)
- United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2020
- United States House Republican Party primaries, 2020
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2020
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2020
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ LexisNexis, "Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-115," accessed July 16, 2025
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
