NEWS FROM MY BACKYARD: Young Republican Explores Primary vs. Scott DesJarlais.

Tennessee Rep. Scott DesJarlais was an unlikely survivor in his 2014 Republican primary, but his next electoral challenge may already be on the horizon.

Grant Starrett, a young aide on both of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns, is contacting donors in advance of a potential run in the 4th District, according to a GOP insider.

DesJarlais was first elected in 2010 when he defeated Rep. Lincoln Davis, a Democrat, in the GOP wave. Accusations about DesJarlais having affairs with patients and encouraging a now ex-wife to have an abortion surfaced prior to his 2012 re-election, which he won with 56 percent.

Last cycle, state Sen. Jim Tracy was a credible threat to DesJarlais in the primary, the congressman’s first since the revelations. But Tracy failed to close the deal with Republican voters. DesJarlais portrayed Tracy as too moderate, then the dynamics of the race changed less than a month before the August primary when he revealed he had cancer. DesJarlais won the primary by less than 50 votes.

Starrett, 27, is vice president and special counsel for Lion Real Estate Group, according to his LinkedIn profile, and former president of Tennesseans for Judicial Accountability. The Stanford and Vanderbilt law school graduate worked on coalitions for the Romney campaign in 2012 and was chairman of Students for Mitt in 2008. (Starrett offered his advice to Republicans in a post-election piece in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.)

Against DesJarlais, Starrett would try and bridge the conservative and establishment camps within the Republican Party. Starrett founded the Stanford Conservative Society, was president of the Federalist Society at Vanderbilt and was an early contributor to Texas Republican Ted Cruz in his competitive 2012 GOP Senate primary with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. But Starrett also has a foot in the establishment camp after two Romney campaigns.

It remains to be seen whether the first-time candidate can raise the money necessary to defeat an incumbent. But Starrett could also attract outside help.

I met Starrett some years ago when I spoke at Vanderbilt. He seems like a good guy, but this is the first I’ve heard of this campaign getting underway.

UPDATE: From the comments: “I went to Paul Ryan’s 29 birthday party on the hill in 1999. He told me he had trouble getting in the house gym b/c nobody believed he was a Congressman. Starrett will be the same age as Mr. Ryan was then.”