Tennessee Republican Scott DesJarlais survived his primary in the 4th District Thursday night against former Mitt Romney aide Grant Starrett.

Starrett tweeted that he called DesJarlais to concede shortly before The Associated Press called the race in the congressman’s favor. DesJarlais won 52 percent of the vote to Starrett’s 43.

DesJarlais was rocked by scandal in 2012 when it came to light that the self-described pro-life congressman had previously encouraged an ex-wife and a mistress (who was also a patient) to have abortions.

The physician easily won the general election that year, but only narrowly survived his 2014 primary, winning a recount by just 38 votes.

Starrett, a 28-year-old lawyer moved to the district last year, ran an aggressive ground game, knocking on doors in places that DesJarlais’ previous primary challenger had not.