This year, Tennessee and two other states — Alabama and Louisiana — reopened their filing deadlines for primary elections for the U.S. House of Representatives after the initial deadline passed. Each state reopened its filing deadline after passing new congressional maps ahead of this year's elections. Here's how this move affected primaries in Tennessee.

The filing deadline was initially March 10, 2026. However, the filing deadline for all U.S. House districts was reopened until May 15, 2026.

On May 7, 2026, the Tennessee General Assembly passed, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed into law a new congressional map for use in this year's elections.

Before Tennessee's filing deadline reopened, 36 candidates — 20 Democrats and 16 Republicans — filed to run for Tennessee's nine congressional districts. That's four candidates per district. 

After the deadline reopened, the number of candidates increased to 53 — the most candidates running for the U.S. House since 2014. Among those candidates are 33 Democrats and 19 Republicans. That's 5.9 candidates per district.

There were 3.4 candidates per district in 2024, four in 2022, five in 2020, 5.4 in 2018, 5.3 in 2016, and 4.3 in 2014.

The number of open districts also increased from one to two. Rep. John Rose (R-6th) announced before the deadline reopened that he would retire to run for governor of Tennessee. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-9th) announced he would retire from public office after the filing deadline reopened.

There were no open districts in 2024, one in 2022, two in 2020, two in 2018, two in 2016, and none in 2014.

As a result of Cohen's retirement, the number of incumbents running in contested primaries decreased from three — one Democrat and two Republicans — to two. Both of the incumbents running in contested primaries are Republicans.

There were three incumbents in contested primaries in 2024, three in 2022, three in 2020, five in 2018, five in 2016, and eight in 2014.

The total number of contested primaries increased from nine — five Democratic and four Republican —  to 12. Eight of those 12 primaries are Democratic, and four are Republican.

In total, there were six contested primaries in 2024, eight in 2022, eight in 2020, 13 in 2018, 10 in 2016, and 11 in 2014.

Before the deadline reopened, the open 6th Congressional District attracted the most candidates. Seven candidates — three Democrats and four Republicans — initially filed to run for the district. 

After the deadline reopened, the 6th Congressional District and the 4th Congressional District were tied for the most candidates who filed to run, with nine each. There are five Democrats and four Republicans running in each district.

Before the deadline reopened, four candidates —  one Democrat and three Republicans — filed to run for the 4th Congressional District.

Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all nine districts both before and after the deadline reopened. That means no districts are guaranteed to either party.

Tennessee is holding U.S. House primaries on Aug. 6, 2026.

In Tennessee, primary winners are determined by plurality vote, meaning that the candidate with the highest number of votes wins even if they do not win more than 50% of votes cast.