Brent Taylor projected to win GOP nomination for District 9 congressional race

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - State Senator Brent Taylor is projected to become the Republican candidate in the race for Tennessee’s new District 9 congressional seat for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Taylor leads the Republican primary race with over 23,000 votes.

Justin J. Pearson is leading the Democratic primary. If both candidates win their parties’ vote, Taylor will face Pearson in the Tennessee General Election on November 3.

The polls closed at 7 p.m. Thursday. Results are still coming in.

You can find up-to-date results here.

Taylor is currently the state senator of Tennessee’s 31st District.

He said he supports the newly redrawn District 9, which now stretches from Shelby County all the way through Decatur and Hardin Counties, incorporating urban, suburban, and rural areas of Tennessee.

Sen. Taylor was part of the call to deploy the National Guard to the Bluff City as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force.

“In Memphis, the crime is down. We have taken steps to improve our education system. And Hardin County—and these are comments from people of Hardin County—they said we are better off because of the effort that you’ve done in Memphis to make Memphis matter,” Taylor said.

Taylor also co-sponsored the bill that resulted in the Tennessee Public School Accountability Act, which enabled a state takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

“I’m running for Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District to stand with President Trump and cement Tennessee’s conservative legacy for generations to come,” Sen. Taylor said in his campaign announcement.

Incumbent District 9 Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) is not seeking re-election.

Rep. Cohen reflected on his tenure as a longtime elected official in a statement to Action News 5:

Click here to sign up for our newsletter!

Click here to report a spelling or grammar error. Please include the headline.