Former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus is no longer on the Republican primary ballot in Tennessee's Fifth Congressional District.
And she's not the only one.
The entire GOP field in the Nashville-based seat is in chaos after the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee (SEC) voted to remove Ortagus, Robby Starbuck and Baxter Lee from the ballot.
By many accounts, Ortagus and Starbuck had split the vote between President Trump's most enthusiastic supporters.
Ortagus won Trump's endorsement in January. While she had plenty of support from grassroots conservatives, many rallied around Starbuck.
Ortagus' fiercest critics included Matt Gaetz, Sebastian Gorka and Candace Owens. Owens called Trump's endorsement “completely wrong.”
Ortagus' rivals questioned her decision to move to the district last year and her unabashed support for Jeb Bush in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries.
Tennessee GOP Chairman Scott Golden confirmed to The Tennessee Star late last night that the state party had removed Ortagus, Starbuck and Lee. Their removal came one week after official challenges to their bona fide Republican statuses triggered a technical removal from the ballot per party bylaws.
The Nashville Tennessean has more on the ex-candidates' reactions:
“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.”
Chip Saltsman, Lee's campaign manager, said the decision to remove Lee was “ridiculous.”
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Lee was kicked off because he hadn't voted in the three of the last four Tennessee August Republican primaries, according to Saltsman.
When asked for comment, Starbuck sent a brief video with dramatic music and the word, “War.”
Starbuck hasn't yet voted in a Republican primary in Tennessee. He registered to vote in the state in July 2019 after moving there from California. He did not vote in the state's 2020 GOP primary.
However, he did post a message on social media after the vote, “The fight has only just begun. We can't let RINO's destroy our party.”
The Tennessee Star further reports:
All three had an opportunity to request that the SEC restore their names to the GOP primary ballot before the SEC sends its final list of candidates qualified to appear on the GOP primary ballot to the Tennessee Secretary of State on April 21.
The 17-member committee of SEC denied those requests. Sources tell The Star that the appeals of Ortagus and Starbuck to be restored to the GOP primary ballot were overwhelmingly rejected in separate 13 to 3 votes. Baxter Lee's request for restoration was rejected in a 10 to 6 vote.
TNGOP bylaws allow for candidates' Republican bona fide status to be challenged if they were not considered active members in the TNGOP, local party, or recognized affiliate, did not vote in three of the last four statewide Republican primaries, or in races where there is a Republican incumbent, have not been “vouched for” as bona fide Republicans to the satisfaction of the 17-member committee, or did not submit a filing fee.
Ortagus registered to vote in Tennessee in November of 2021 and has never voted in a Tennessee election.
It is unknown if any of the three candidates will pursue a legal challenge; however, Aaron Gulbransen of The Tennessee Star reports that the state party's ruling “is on very strong legal ground and is protected by statute.”
Who cares who she voted for….Remember Trump was a DEMO once ! We all change and that should not be held against her….She is articulate, very intelligent and would be a wonderful Republican candidate in ANY state.
Let’s make sure we don’t have the right candidate – totally agree with you assessment. Just one more nail in the repukicants coffin in this upcoming election that should have been a landslide in Nov, but the Rs know so many ways to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Another great example.
I’m not taking sides since I don’t know enough about this dispute, but it can be fine to change political parties, your view on abortion, your position on illegal immigration, etc… but you have to show an evolution over time and explain how you you’ve changed your views. Reagan and Trump both switch to the Republican party, but they spent years commenting on politics, proving they were substantive thinkers and solid Republicans. They didn’t parachute into a district right before an election with no track record and say I’m MAGA so vote for me. Maybe these candidates are getting a raw deal and maybe they’re not. Maybe the local Republicans are afraid they’re too conservative and want them eliminated so their hand-picked RINO can win. But I’m just saying be careful of opportunist candidates who see a wave coming (like with the TEA party) and try to ride it into office by parroting what the base wants to hear even though they don’t believe it. I think Kinzinger ran as a TEA party candidate and look at him now. We just need to be careful about whom we elect to represent us.
Can’t figure this out; i used to have lots of respect for Tennessee, the state which supported GWB over that punk al the whore gore who was native to Tn. I still can’t believe that jerk was a Marine. Even though the officer rank was handed to him and he was a journalist or some other nonsense position.