Tennessee Republicans Jim Tracy and Scott DesJarlais followed entirely different routes to the finish line they crossed only about three dozen votes apart in the still-unofficial results of Thursday’s 4th Congressional District primary, an examination of the district’s county-by-county results shows.
A county-level look at each candidate’s net votes – that is, his votes minus the other candidate’s votes – shows that Tracy won big in Rutherford, the district’s largest single trove of votes for either candidate, and put DesJarlais just over 4,600 votes in the hole. Adding Tracy’s net gains in the five other district counties Tracy won left DesJarlais with a 9,106-vote deficit to make up.
Net and total votes, by county, for DesJarlais and Tracy
The deep-but-not-wide outcome of Tracy’s campaign, however, made a way for DesJarlais to lose Rutherford County but compensate with wins in 10 of the district’s 16 other counties, sometimes by ratios as high as nearly 5-to-1. DesJarlais’ biggest gains against Tracy emerged in Franklin and Marion counties, both of which lie on the district’s southern boundary along the Tennessee-Kentucky border, with the Marion County portion of the district reaching into Chattanooga’s Western suburbs and including the city of South Pittsburg, Tennessee, where DesJarlais lives.
Aug. 7 Congressional District 4 Republican Primary Outcome
Dark red = DesJarlais win. Light red = Tracy win
Tracy’s biggest wins besides his home turf of Rutherford County included Bradley County, the last step in the 4th District’s drunken stagger from Middle Tennessee toward Cleveland, Tennessee, in the state’s Southeastern corner, and Bedford County, which shares Rutherford’s border to the south.
In the end, Tracy finished with 34,752 votes, 35 fewer than DesJarlais’ 34,787. Provisional ballots have yet to be counted, and many observers expect a challenge by whichever candidate comes up short.
By Ken Blake, editor, The Data Reporter