David Kustoff declared victory Tuesday night in the race for Tennessee's newly redrawn 8th Congressional District, claiming a sixth term in Congress over Democratic challenger Heidi Kuhn as polls closed at 7 p.m. Central time and votes were counted across the Memphis-based district. The incumbent Republican led with 51.6% of the vote to Kuhn's 46.4% as of 11 p.m. on Election Day, according to figures reported at that hour.
Kustoff has held the seat since winning it in 2016, and as reported by Action News 5, he declared himself the winner in the race for the state's newly redrawn 8th Congressional District even as ballots were still being tallied. The Daily Memphian reported the Germantown incumbent defeated Kuhn, a former Shelby County Criminal Court clerk, to win a sixth term representing a district the paper described as covering much of Memphis and its northeastern suburbs.
A District Reshaped Earlier This Year
The boundaries Kustoff and Kuhn campaigned within this fall look different than they did a year ago. The Republican-controlled Tennessee House and Senate passed a redistricting plan in May 2026 that split Memphis into three congressional districts, a move Democratic lawmakers at the time accused Republicans of pursuing through racial gerrymandering. The redrawn, Memphis-based 8th District now extends from Gibson County in the north to Perry County in the east, according to the seed report's account of the new map.
The Tennessee Secretary of State confirmed the General Assembly adopted the revised congressional districts during a Second Extraordinary Session of the 114th General Assembly held in May 2026. The Tennessee Lookout's voter guide for the race lists Kustoff as elected in 2016.
Kuhn Campaigned While Recovering From A Crash
Kuhn entered Election Day still recovering from a car crash 11 days earlier. The seed report states that Kuhn suffered whiplash and facial fractures in a crash on I-240 in Memphis on October 23, with her husband also involved in the collision, according to the Kuhn campaign team. The campaign team said the couple were expected to be okay and that both continued to recover from their injuries in the lead-up to the election.
Official, certified results and final vote totals for the 8th District race had not been verified as of publication. Kustoff's declaration of victory came while ballots were still being counted Tuesday night, and the 51.6% to 46.4% split reflected a snapshot taken as of 11 p.m., not a certified outcome.
