Rutherford County flips three statehouse seats to Democrats

Three statehouse seats in Rutherford County changed hands on Tuesday as voters elected Democrats in races that cover parts of Murfreesboro and Smyrna.

In House District 13, Brett Windrow defeated incumbent Rep. Robert Stevens. The district includes portions of Murfreesboro and Smyrna. In House District 34, Owen Farnsworth unseated incumbent Rep. Tim Rudd. That district covers the center of Murfreesboro and a small southwestern part of the county. In House District 49, Connie Casha defeated Rep. Mike Sparks, who had held the seat since 2010.

The shift extended beyond state legislature races. Final unofficial counts from the Secretary of State’s office show Victoria Broderick narrowly defeated longtime District 4 Congressman Scott DesJarlais. In the newly redrawn District 9, which includes a small portion of Rutherford County, state Rep. Justin J. Pearson won by more than 10 percentage points.

Statewide, the county voted for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerri Green by a nine percentage point margin. That is a change from 2024, when President Donald Trump won the county with 60% of the vote. Democratic senate candidate Marquita Bradshaw also narrowly defeated incumbent Sen. Bill Hagerty in the area.

Republicans retained three seats in the county. Rep. Bryan Terry won by 10 points, while Rep. Charlie Baum won by six points. Sen. Dawn White held her seat by fewer than four percentage points.

Despite these local losses, the GOP maintains sizable majorities in both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly.