With just two days remaining before Tennessee’s Thursday Republican primary, State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis), the Trump-endorsed candidate in the race for the newly redrawn 9th Congressional District, sat down for an exclusive interview on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show to discuss his campaign’s priorities and the overall race ahead.
Citing the business experience he has frequently highlighted on the campaign trail—including building a funeral services company from a $60,000 home equity loan before selling it years later—Taylor said his private-sector background has given him skills he believes are lacking in Washington.
“I’ve been very blessed that I had the personal resources to be able to jumpstart the campaign,” Taylor said. “I’ve been blessed by a lot of people who support my campaign, that believe I will make a great congressman because I’ve got that business experience having grown a business and sold it, and know what it’s like to make a payroll and know what it’s like to lay awake at night worrying about whether or not I have enough money to make payroll the next day.”
Taylor added that voters also recognize his experience serving at every level of local government.
“They also support me because I’ve been a local elected official. I’ve served at every level of government. I know what it’s like when the federal government gets in our local business and tries to give us mandates that they won’t fund,” he said.
The state senator also reflected on receiving President Donald Trump’s endorsement last month, calling it the biggest boost of his campaign.
“I got President Trump’s endorsement. He looked at this race…and he could have chosen any number of the four of us, but when he called me to give me his endorsement, I was amazed that he knew exactly what I’d been campaigning on,” Taylor said.
According to Taylor, Trump told him, “You’re the guy that I want up here in DC to help me finish my job in the last two years of my term.”
Taylor said receiving the call from Trump was a memorable moment, explaining that campaign staff had warned him to keep his phone available during a two-hour window while the president reviewed congressional races for endorsements.
“They had called earlier in the day and said that they were meeting with the president to go over the races for the next round of endorsements,” Taylor said. “They said, ‘There’s a lot going on with Iran. We may not get to your race…but if you could keep your phone free and answer any 202 area code.'”
Taylor said he and his wife even made plans to record the phone call if it came.
“We had devised this plan, because it’s not every day the president calls,” Taylor said. “When the phone rings, my wife was gonna video it.”
The call ultimately came after Taylor had begun changing clothes for a campaign debate.
“I look down, and the phone is ringing, and it’s 202,” Taylor recalled. “I go running in there. My cuffs weren’t buttoned. My shirt tail was untucked.”
Taylor said the president’s familiarity with the race underscored the significance of the endorsement.
“What was interesting was the depth of knowledge about the race, my opponents, and he talked at a granular level about that,” Taylor said. “I could tell that they had done their research…He could have chosen any one of the four of us, but because they had done their research, he felt that I was the best candidate to help him implement his America First agenda.”
Taylor said Trump’s familiarity with his work on crime in Memphis reinforced his belief that the endorsement was based on more than polling or political considerations.
“The President of the United States made Memphis matter by sending in the Memphis Safe Task Force,” Taylor said. “They have literally cut crime in half.”
Taylor said, however, that endorsements alone will not determine the outcome of Thursday’s election.
“None of that matters unless I get the endorsement and the support of what I affectionately refer to as the Tennessee Niners, the constituents in District 9,” Taylor said. “I’m asking for their vote on Thursday.”
The Republican also discussed his focus on crime, highlighting both his campaign messaging and his work in Memphis.
Taylor referenced his viral “Bait Shop” campaign advertisement that opens, “I’m Brent Taylor, and I don’t know about you, but I am tired of violent criminals running around Tennessee like squirrels in a bait shop,” explaining that the fictional bait shop in the ad was intentionally named after Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy.
Building on that record, Taylor said he wants to bring the same federal-state partnership to Middle Tennessee if elected to Congress.
“I wanna take that experience of working with the Trump administration in cutting crime in these big cities,” Taylor said. “I wanna do the same thing in Nashville, because Nashville’s crime is just as bad as it was in Memphis, and they just don’t talk about it as much.”
“I wanna take that experience I’ve had to be able to go to Washington and try to get some type of federal intervention to stop the crime in Nashville, because what happens is, if we don’t stop it in Nashville, it creeps right down into Williamson County and Maury County and Rutherford County. I’m the only candidate that has that type of experience,” he stressed.
Taylor also said his experience campaigning has convinced him he has momentum heading into Election Day.
“When I ran for Congress in ’02, I knew going into election day that Marsha [Blackburn] was gonna win,” Taylor said, referring to his unsuccessful congressional bid against then-State Senator Marsha Blackburn. “This race feels completely different. I feel very good about this race.”
“We’ve done four polls. Every poll has come back and validated exactly how I feel about this race,” he added.
Looking ahead to November, Taylor said he expects State Representative Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) to emerge as the Democratic nominee and vowed to aggressively challenge him.
“God willing, and Tennessee voters elect me, I’m going to DC to give the Democrats hell,” Taylor said. “But the first Democrat we need to give hell to is Justin Pearson.”
“I’m gonna fight with everything I have to ensure that Justin Pearson never sees the inside of the United States Capitol unless it is on a guided tour through the visitor center and not through the member-only door,” he said.
Taylor argued the race has already drawn national attention following Trump’s endorsement.
“Since President Trump endorsed my campaign a couple weeks ago, the NRCC…has made Tennessee 9 their top priority in the general election because it will be a flip from a Democrat to a Republican,” Taylor said.
He added that Republican support nationwide will allow his campaign to compete financially against Pearson.
“I think there are a lot of people who want to see me elected to Congress,” Taylor said. “We’ll be able to match what the weathered, purple-haired hippies do in sending Justin Pearson campaign contributions.”
On a lighter note, Taylor also joked about the demands of running for Congress, saying the campaign has become an unexpected weight-loss program.
“I would encourage anyone who is struggling with weight…to run for Congress, because it is a really good weight loss program,” Taylor said. “I think I went yesterday and didn’t eat at all except finally at dinner I grabbed a pizza.”
Despite the long hours, Taylor said years as both a businessman and funeral director prepared him for the criticism that comes with public office.
“It helped that I was an ugly kid growing up, because I got turned down a lot for dates,” Taylor joked. “So I developed a thick skin really early on, and that has paid huge dividends in this political thing.”
“You just have to learn to separate and understand that when people are raising hell at you, that it’s not personal. They’re frustrated,” he added. “I learned that, by the way, as a funeral director, too. They would come in, they’re angry that their loved one has died, and sometimes they take it out on the first stranger, which many times is the funeral home.”
Tune in now to The Michael Patrick Leahy Show – your AMERICA FIRST news talk!
– Watch LIVE here on X
– Watch LIVE on YouTube / Rumble / Roku / AppleTV
– Listen on Spotify
– Listen on WENO AM760 in Nashville
– Read more at @TheTNStarhttps://t.co/wiiUnzOZ00— Michael Patrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) August 4, 2026
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Brent Taylor” by Brent Taylor.
