The Tennessee Republican party voted to remove three candidates from the primary ballot in the state’s 5th Congressional District, including one who was backed by Donald Trump, according to the Tennessean.
Morgan Ortagus, a former state department spokesperson who was endorsed early by Trump, and two that candidates, Baxter Lee and Robby Starbuck, were voted off the ballot by the party’s executive committee.
“I’m a bonafide Republican by their standards, and frankly, by any metric,” Ortagus said in a statement. “I’m further disappointed that the party insiders at the Tennessee Republican Party do not seem to share my commitment to President Trump’s America First policies. As I have said all along, I believe that voters in Middle Tennessee should pick their representative – not establishment party insiders. Our team is evaluating the options before us.”
The General Assembly passed legislation last month enacting a residency requirement in congressional primaries to target transplant candidates mounting campaigns after recent moves to the state, the Tennessean reported. Candidates are required to live in the state for a minimum of three years before they can seek office.
State Sen. Frank Niceley (R), who recently came under fire for citing Hitler as an example of how homeless people can make something of themselves, was the lawmaker who introduced the legislation.
“I’ll vote for Trump as long as he lives,” Niceley said. “But I don’t want him coming out here to tell me who to vote for.”
Ortagus who moved to the state last year and Starbuck, who moved to Tennessee in 2019 would not qualify to run in the primary. Critics of Ortagus also pointed to the fact that she does not even live in the district she seeks to represent in Congress. Lee’s campaign manager said he was kicked off the ballot because he hadn’t voted in three of the last four Tennessee Republican primaries.
“There was no good reason to kick off some someone who’s been a good Republican for 20 plus years,” Lee’s campaign manager said.
Niceley said he doubts Trump cares if Ortagus is kicked off the ballot because he is not Jewish like her, according to NBC News.
“I don’t think Trump cares one way or the other,” he said. “I think Jared Kushner — he’s Jewish, she’s Jewish — I think Jared will be upset. Ivanka will be upset. I don’t think Trump cares.”
Nearly a dozen candidates will now face off in the Aug. 4 primary in the district. Longtime Democratic congressman Jim Cooper represents the current fifth congressional district. However, he announced his retirement after the Republican-held Legislature’s new voting maps were released and the district swung significantly to the right, NBC reports.
