Author: Aaron Gulbransen

Candidate for U.S. Representative for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District Robby Starbuck admits that he’s never voted in Tennessee Republican primaries.

Starbuck also acknowledges that he’ll need to be vouched for as a bona fide Republican as part of the Tennessee GOP’s candidate qualification process.

The political newcomer appeared on Nashville’s Morning News with Dan Mandis on 99.7WTN Thursday morning to discuss, among other things, the controversy surrounding his voter history. Starbuck had previously claimed more than once to have voted in two 2020 GOP primaries in Tennessee, but he recently started backing off that claim in a Facebook comment.

Candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District Robby Starbuck appears to be backing off his claims about his voter history, writing on social media that he never said he voted in 2020 and that he misunderstood the question.

More than once, Robby Starbuck claimed to have voted in the August 2020 primary as well as the March presidential primary in 2020. Voting in Republican primaries is a component of the process for qualifying for the 2022 August primary ballot.

Doubt continues to be cast on Robby Starbuck’s claims about his Republican primary voting record.

On multiple occasions, Starbuck claimed that he voted in the August of 2020 and March of 2020 Tennessee Republican primaries. Records provided by Williamson County election officials, where he lives and is registered to vote, contradict those claims.

Robby Starbuck, a candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District’s claims about his voting history were not confirmed by the Williamson County Republican Chair.

Robby Starbuck previously claimed that he voted in August of 2020 and March of 2020 Tennessee Republican primaries when records provided by Williamson County election officials showed that he did not vote in either. In statements provided to The Tennessee Star, Starbuck referenced conversations with Williamson County GOP Chair, Cheryl Brown, to support his claims.

Less than 24 hours after The Tennessee Star asked TN-5 Congressional candidate Robby Starbuck to address questions about his voting record raised by documents obtained from Williamson County election officials, Starbuck released a video taken from a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street where the criminal defends himself before his employees.

In his version, Starbuck superimposed his own face on the face of Jordan Belfort, played Leonardo DiCaprio, using the audio from the movie The Wolf of Wall Street. In 1999, Belfort pled guilt to fraud and other crimes in connection to stock market manipulation and a penny stock scam. He spent 22 months in prison as part of a plea agreement where he testified against partners and subordinates. The Wolf of Wall Street also depicted numerous incidents of drug use, sex, and an instance where a male high on drugs sexually gratified himself.

Robby Starbuck, who formally declared his run for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in June 2021, just two years after moving to Tennessee from California, told The Tennessee Star on Saturday “I don’t feel it’s necessary” to explain why he claimed in a January 21 radio interview with The Tennessee Star Report that he voted in two Tennessee GOP primaries in 2020, when voting records provided to The Tennessee Star by Williamson County officials show that he did not vote in either 2020 Tennessee GOP primary.

Tennessee Republican Party bylaws require active Republicans to have either (1) voted in three of the last four GOP primaries or (2) to have their “bona fide” status vouched for by Republicans in the district they seek to represent and then approved in a majority vote by a specially assembled committee of the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee in order qualify to be on the August 2022 GOP primary ballot.