On Thursday, GOP Rep. Scott DesJarlais turned back a well-funded primary challenge from attorney Grant Starrett, a former aide to Mitt Romney, by a 52-43 margin. Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District, which takes in many of Nashville’s suburbs, is safely red.
DesJarlais has been hot water since late 2012, when voters learned that while DesJarlais was a practicing physician, he had an affair with several of his patients, and tried to convince one to get an abortion. Last cycle, DesJarlais faced a primary challenge from state Sen. Jim Tracy, but Tracy was reluctant to use the congressman’s scandal against him; DesJarlais ended up pulling off a miraculous 38-vote win.
This time, Starrett also didn’t directly attack DesJarlais over his past transgressions. Instead, Starrett ran ads arguing that DesJarlais’ record wasn’t conservative enough. While Starrett hinted at DesJarlais’ baggage with a commercial that argued that DesJarlais "failed to hold Planned Parenthood accountable,” he still never took aim at DesJarlais’ Achilles' heel. By contrast, DesJarlais didn’t hesitate to portray Starrett as a California carpetbagger (Starrett only moved to Tennessee in 2009 to attend law school, and he moved to the 4th just before he ran for Congress). We’ll need to see if DesJarlais attracts another credible primary foe in 2018, but after two wins, potential challengers may be reluctant to face him.