All Star Panelist Clint Brewer Addresses Possible Legal Recourse for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional Candidates Facing Ballot Eligibility Challenges

Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer in-studio to comment upon the possible legal recourse for Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional Candidates that may be challenged by the state’s Republican Party.

Leahy: We are joined not by all-star panelist today, and today only, Clint O’Brewer. Would you like an Irish middle name? How about, let’s see. I’ll give you three options. Patrick, Sean, or Cornelius.

Brewer: Oh, that’s tough. I’m going to have to go with Cornelius.

Leahy: Cornelius. (Brewer laughs) Clinton Cornelius O’Brewer, today, only. I like that. Yeah. Sometimes they call them Connor. Somewhere back in my background, there is a Cornelius Leahy, but I haven’t exactly figured that out.

Brewer: Shinzane County boss or something. (Laughs)

Leahy: Oh, Cornelius. Connie Mack, the great baseball manager in the early 1950s, his name was actually Cornelius McGillicuddy. There you go.

Brewer: I like that.

Leahy: So, Clinton Cornelius O’Brewer for today only. (Laughs) So a lot of stuff going on politically. And as you probably know, I’d like to get your take on all this, particularly with the ins and outs of the eligibility of some of these candidates in the 5th Congressional District.

The bylaws, we haven’t even gotten into the legislation about residency pending in the state legislature. We’ll get to that in a moment. But this is our breaking story at The Tennessee Star.

The Tennessee Republican Party, whose chair, Scott Golden, he’s been on the show many times. Good friend, good guy. And let me just say, if you compare how the Tennessee Republican Party is run versus like, oh, I don’t know, the Ohio Republican Party … night and day.

Brewer: It’s so true. Absolutely so true.

Leahy: Everything about how things are done in Tennessee, much nicer than the rest of the country.

Brewer: Yes, you get out in some of these other states and you realize we’ve got it pretty good.

Leahy: We’ve got it pretty good. So there’s a process. According to the bylaws, if you’ve not voted in three of the four most recent statewide Republican Tennessee primaries, you’re not eligible to run as a candidate.

And then there’s a process whereby people who live in the district can file a challenge to a candidacy. And once that challenge is filed, they’re off the ballot and then they’ve got to make a case to be restored.

We talked to Scott Golden. Four candidates have been challenged by bona fide Republicans who live in the 5th Congressional District. One of them is Morgan Ortagus. You’ve probably heard of her.

Brewer: Yes. You’ve mentioned her a time or two on the show.

Leahy: Former State Department spokesperson. Who, by the way, in our little Taking the Fifth quiz, was not able to name any of the interstate highways in the district she seeks to represent. I-24, I-65, I-40. She registered to vote here in November of 2021.

Robby Starbuck, the California native who registered to vote here in July of 2019. And this guy we don’t know anything about, David Vitalli, who moved here, bought a house in June of 2021, and registered to vote in June of 2021.

So by any definition, they would be considered carpetbaggers. And then Baxter Lee also has been challenged. Baxter Lee, apparently due to his vote in the 2020 Democratic presidential preference primary.

So the way it works is, candidates have until April 7 to pick up, pull petitions and then get 25 signatures and file them. Right now, 14 candidates have done that in the Tennessee Republican primary. Morgan Ortagus has yet to do that. I don’t know why, but I’m sure she will. That would make 15.

Brewer: So they’ve challenged her, but she hasn’t pulled a petition.

Leahy: Yeah. She’ll have to, but the consideration won’t begin until April 7.

Brewer: It’s a very complex situation. First of all, there’s the process in the party and then there’s any number of ways you could approach this in the court system.

And just because there’s a process in the party at the executive committee level doesn’t mean one of these candidates or would-be candidates isn’t going to jump over that and try to litigate it beforehand.

Leahy: Well, let’s talk about that.

Brewer: Or, you could do it as just a voter in the district and claim standing. Now, are all those things going to work? Maybe not.

Leahy: So let’s talk about this. To me, and you might have some insight on this – by the way, you live in Wilson County.

Brewer: I do.

Leahy: Are you in the 5th Congressional?

Brewer: I am.

Leahy: Let’s be clear. Are you running for Congress in the 5th Congressional District?

Brewer: Mike, I’m a threat to any office. (Laughter)

Leahy: You’re a minor threat to a major office.

Brewer: I am absolutely not running for Congress.

Leahy: We made some news! Clint Brewer is not running for Congress.

Brewer: I don’t think I want to be your lead headline. (Leahy laughs) If I do get nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.

Leahy: Okay. Now, so, the process is, I think, in order to sue, so, the party … here’s the way it works. On April 7, they file, and then April 7, any challenges, according to Scott Golden, you’re off the ballot once you’ve been challenged, and then from April 7 until April 21 is a drop-dead date to get on the ballot.

The state executive committee will adjudicate the challenges, and the state executive committee has a process for reviewing those.

And if you don’t meet the three out of four standards, you can say, well, these people vouch for me. There’s sentiment against that. I think. And I think all four of these people are in danger of being thrown off the ballot.

Brewer: I think they are. You can move it the other way. I know the Democratic Party has a history of doing this, and it’s largely been allowed to happen.

Leahy: John DeBerry was thrown off.

Brewer: Right.

Leahy: The State Rep from Memphis, yeah. And he had no recourse. He ran as an Independent. And this is what they could do.

Brewer: I don’t know if these processes have ever been challenged at a court level. Not at the Republican Party side.

Leahy: I don’t think John DeBerry challenged that in court. He might have, but I don’t think he did. He was a Democrat.

Brewer: And I’m not saying they should and I’m not saying they’ll prevail, but I’m saying that based on some of the statements that are out there and based on the …

Leahy: Well, Robby Starbuck has said …

Brewer: I read that.

Leahy: Anybody who deigns to challenge my eligibility, I got an attorney who’s won Supreme Court cases. We’re going to sic them on you. Well, the question here is, let’s go back to the process.

So what will happen is April 7, the state executive committee will consider. And then they will make a decision as to whether or not they give the Secretary of State the names of these people that have been challenged to put on the ballot.

My guess is it’s likely that some or all of these four will not be on the ballot. The Secretary of State has to have them by April 21 so that nobody would have any standing until somebody’s thrown off.

Now the question is so let’s say we are at April 10th, and all four of these get thrown off. What legal recourse is thrown off by the party, and they’re not going to be printed on the ballot by the Secretary of State? What legal recourse do they have? I don’t think they have much, or any.

Brewer: Well, I mean, anybody with money for a $500 bond and an attorney can go to court. (Laughs) I mean, it’s not difficult to take somebody to court.

Leahy: Robby Starbuck has already said he will sue anybody and he implied that even if a bona fide Republican who’s challenged his eligibility, he would sue that person. That’s sort of implied in the statement.

Brewer: Just based on what you told me, I don’t know. I think Baxter Lee might have a better case than you think.

Leahy: Yeah, I think you’re probably right.

Brewer: I think the way it’s written, if he’s voted in the other Republican primaries and he popped up and voted in a Democratic preference primary, I’ve known plenty of Republicans who’ve done things like that, just simply because they are terrified. Do you see what I’m saying?

Leahy: Let’s say you want to challenge it. Where do you go? What’s your argument?

Brewer: You could go to federal court. It could be a civil rights argument that you’re infringing upon my franchise to run. You could go to state court and challenge the procedure at the executive committee level. There are a number of ways to do it procedurally or in the right space.

Leahy: My guess is that those challenges would not be particularly strong in any court and would not go to the next level. That would be my guess.

Brewer: Well, it depends on the venue,I think.

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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Robby Starbuck” by Robby Starbuck.