Topher Kersting

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Topher Kersting

Independent

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2016

Contact

Personal website

float:right;
border:1px solid #FFB81F;
background-color: white;
width: 250px;
font-size: .9em;
margin-bottom:0px;

} .infobox p { margin-bottom: 0; } .widget-row { display: inline-block; width: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; } .widget-row.heading { font-size: 1.2em; } .widget-row.value-only { text-align: center; background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.value-only.white { background-color: #f9f9f9; } .widget-row.value-only.black { background-color: #f9f9f9; color: black; } .widget-row.Democratic { background-color: #003388; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Republican { background-color: red; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Independent, .widget-row.Nonpartisan, .widget-row.Constitution { background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Libertarian { background-color: #f9d334; color: black; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Green { background-color: green; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-key { width: 43%; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold; } .widget-value { width: 57%; float: right; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; word-wrap: break-word; } .widget-img { width: 150px; display: block; margin: auto; } .clearfix { clear: both; }

Topher Kersting was a 2016 independent candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 3rd Congressional District of Tennessee.

Elections

2016

See also: Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Charles Fleischmann (R) defeated Melody Shekari (D) and independent candidates Topher Kersting, Cassandra Mitchell, and Rick Tyler in the general election on November 8, 2016. Fleischmann defeated Allan Levene and Geoffery Suhmer Smith in the Republican primary, while Shekari defeated Michael Friedman and George Ryan Love to win the Democratic nomination. The primary elections took place on August 4, 2016.

U.S. House, Tennessee District 3 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Charles Fleischmann Incumbent	66.4%	176,613
	Democratic	Melody Shekari	28.8%	76,727
	Independent	Rick Tyler	1.9%	5,098
	Independent	Cassandra Mitchell	1.9%	5,075
	Independent	Topher Kersting	0.9%	2,493
Total Votes				266,006
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State

U.S. House, Tennessee District 3 Democratic Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Melody Shekari	53.9%	8,660
Michael Friedman	33.2%	5,329
George Ryan Love	12.9%	2,070
Total Votes		16,059
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State

U.S. House, Tennessee District 3 Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Charles Fleischmann Incumbent	83.9%	31,964
Geoffery Suhmer Smith	8.1%	3,076
Allan Levene	8%	3,059
Total Votes		38,099
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State

Campaign themes

2016

The following issues were listed on Kersting's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

“	Climate Change: Climate scientists agree that climate change is happening and that human activity is at least partially to blame. Because there are political as well as climatological reasons to reduce our use of fossil fuels, I believe that we should promote increased fuel efficiency as well as increased use of alternative fuels, including nuclear power. College Funding: I don’t believe in making college free for everyone, because everyone shouldn’t go to college, or, more to the point, shouldn’t have to go to college to get a good job. We need to rein in abuses by for-profit institutions, provide better financial support for our best and brightest, and work to improve our manufacturing sector to create good jobs for those who do not attend college. The Constitution: If Congress wastes time and money on legislation that is obviously unconstitutional, I will speak up very loudly. Corporate Money in Politics: Citizens United is an abomination. Out political system currently goes by the new Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules. This isn’t what our Founding Fathers intended, and I will work with other members of Congress to address this. Criminal Justice: The U.S. has the largest per capita prison population in the world (North Korea might have more, but they don’t release numbers). For the Land of the Free, this is an abomination. We need to refocus on rehabilitation over punishment, get rid of mandatory minimum sentencing, place tighter controls on for-profit prisons, and dramatically reduce sentencing for non-violent offenders.	”
—Topher Kersting's campaign website, https://topherforcongress.wordpress.com/on-the-issues/

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Topher Kersting Tennessee Congress. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Topher Kersting - Google News

See also

• United States House of Representatives
• Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District election, 2016
• Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District

External links

Suggest a link

• Campaign website
• Facebook page

Footnotes

[show]

Tennessee's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Marsha Blackburn (R)

Bill Hagerty (R)

Representatives

District 1

Diana Harshbarger (R)

District 2

Tim Burchett (R)

District 3

Charles Fleischmann (R)

District 4

Scott DesJarlais (R)

District 5

Andy Ogles (R)

District 6

John Rose (R)

District 7

Mark Green (R)

District 8

David Kustoff (R)

District 9

Steve Cohen (D)

Republican Party (10)

Democratic Party (1)