Christian Nationalists Lose in Tennessee Primary, But Not Christian Nationalism
Far-right candidates fell short at the ballot box—yet their controversial ideology continues to define the state’s political landscape.
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Christian nationalists did not win in Thursday’s primaries in Tennessee, but the outcome demonstrates that the controversial ideology still courses through the veins of the state’s Republican Party.
As U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn’s campaign prepared to celebrate her victory in her quest for governor, state Representative Jason Zachary led a thousand stalwart supporters in a prayer in which he thanked God for choosing their candidate to be the GOP nominee.
“You tell us in Daniel that you put people in power, Lord, and you remove those from power—and tonight, Lord, you’ve given us an opportunity, Lord, in November to vote for Senator Blackburn, who has been one of our nation’s and our state’s great leaders, Lord,” Zachary said in an almost two-minute prayer.
Watch Jason Zachary’s prayer below:
In case God had any doubts, Zachary assured him that he had indeed “chosen somebody who’s up for the task.”
(As an aside, it should be noted that such GOP faith in God’s divine wisdom is rarely expressed when a Democrat wins a political race.)
Zachary’s prayer seemed to be a nod to an unexpectedly strong showing by one of Blackburn’s competitors, self-identified Christian nationalist Monty Fritts.
Fritts—a state lawmaker who believed God was calling him, not Marsha Blackburn, to be the next governor—waged a quixotic battle on a shoestring budget against tens of millions spent by and for his opponents.
His views represented the most extreme version of Christian nationalism with his professed desire to impose his religious views on the rest of the state:
Fritts wanted to ban mosques and said, if he could, he would outlaw the practice of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and other “pagan” religions.
He wanted not only to end same-sex marriage, he also expressed a desire to criminalize sexual relations between people of the same gender.
He wanted to outlaw the morning-after pill, even for rape victims, and to institute the death penalty for abortion providers. And he refused to rule out executions for women who seek abortions.
And, in the last days of the campaign, he put out a video noting that Christians had emailed him to express concerns about positions they viewed as being too extreme. His message to them: “Repent.”
Fritts also refused to disavow a Hitler-loving, Jew-hating volunteer who starred in a pair of social media videos for his campaign.
Yet, the Christian nationalist candidate still managed to gain the support of nearly a quarter of Republican voters, beating out the other two candidates in five of Tennessee’s 95 counties, coming in second in 23.
Throughout the primary campaign, Fritts’ supporters were far more motivated on social media than people backing his two opponents.
And, so far, the sense of disillusionment expressed by those voters—many of whom believed God was about to deliver a miracle that would shock the political establishment—seems palpable.
Which is why Blackburn’s team is likely praying that they can eventually convince those voters that God is indeed on her side.
Read my pre-election analysis here:
Crusader Andy Ogles
In the GOP primary for Tennessee’s fifth congressional district, voters had many reasons for rejecting incumbent Andy Ogles—and yet his Islamophobic, Christian nationalist views do not seem to have been a major factor.
As my own investigations had revealed:
Ogles had claimed to be an economist; he was not.
He had boasted about being trained in investigating international sex crimes; he had not.
He had claimed to have done graduate work at Vanderbilt and Dartmouth; that was a lie.
His resume showed he had served on the board of directors for the city of Franklin, Tennessee; Franklin does not have a board of directors.
He claimed to have personally loaned his campaign $320,000 in his first run for Congress in 2022; he did not have that kind of money to lend.
The FBI opened a criminal investigation into those fraudulent campaign disclosures, but that investigation was canned by the Trump administration.
And still Ogles, with Donald Trump’s backing, managed to pull in almost 47 percent of the vote in his primary battle with former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher.
As part of his campaign, Ogles had openly embraced Christian nationalist themes, depicting himself in several AI videos as a Christian Crusader from the Middle Ages and openly calling for all Muslims to be forced out of the country.
Yet, Hatcher—who, when asked, expressed his disagreement with Ogles about deporting all Muslims—never attacked the incumbent congressman for those views, nor did a special-interest PAC that spent $2 million to defeat Ogles.
In fact, Hatcher privately acknowledged that Ogles’ anti-Muslim rhetoric was one issue that seemed to resonate with voters.
Which is why, from my perspective, the Christian nationalists may have lost, but Christian nationalism remains a core ingredient in the GOP soup.
So, what do you think?
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Sadly, I think one of the Nationalists won a seat on the Cookeville City Council.