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 discuss the unwelcomed national endorsement of local candidates in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District by Republican leaders.
Leahy: We are with all-star panelist Clint Brewer, in-studio with us. We’re talking about the 5th Congressional District GOP primary race in Tennessee. Lots going on with that. In particular, there have been more people announced.
Kurt Winstead has announced, although – he’s announced, but he’s not coming on. He’s not talking to any press. I don’t know where that’s going. Baxter Lee has been on the program. Natisha Brooks has been on the program.
Beth Harwell announced here. Andy Ogles is considering it, rumored that he will be announcing sometime this month. And of course, Robby Starbuck is out there and he’s one of the big carpetbaggers. Although more recent … his state of residence here: When did he reside? When was he a resident here?
It was either in his own words sometime after August 2020 because he didn’t vote in the primaries because he was still not yet a full-time resident of Tennessee, according to his own words. Or was it July of 2019 when he registered to vote, or was it, as he claims, December of 2018 when he rented a house?
Brewer: Is his name really Robby Starbuck?
Leahy: Robert Starbuck Newsom. Robert Starbuck Newsom, that’s how it will appear on the ballot. So he’s out there. And now Morgan Ortagus, who quite frankly has demonstrated here to everyone that she doesn’t know anything about the district.
And now what’s interesting is how this all came about. Why did Donald Trump endorse her like the last week of January, a week before she announced? Why? He said he looked at the field and she was the best. Really? I don’t think so.
Our sources tell us that Ivanka Trump is best friends with Morgan Ortagus. They were friends when they were in Manhattan together for a period of time. And neighborly, I suppose.
And then former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, she served as his spokesperson from 2019 to 2021. Sources tell us it was the two of them that encouraged her to run.
And Pompeo, interestingly enough, looks to me like he’s trying to build his own political machine, separate from Donald Trump.
So what I think happened is they went down to Donald Trump and said, hey, you’ve got to endorse Morgan Ortagus. And without thinking it through, he went ahead and gave the endorsement. That’s my guess on it.
Brewer: Secretary Pompeo is doing all the traditional things one does when they think that they might be president of the United States.
Leahy: He’s former Secretary of State. He did a great job as Secretary of State, in my view.
Brewer: I agree. Smart guy.
Leahy: But, the guy, I think he’s trying to set up a separate opportunity for Mike Pompeo to run for president. And he has misstepped in a big way by endorsing a carpetbagger.
And actually, we went and we asked him, multiple times, we gave him a copy of the interview where it was obvious. Morgan Ortagus – nice person – cannot name the interstate highways in the 5th Congressional District. Zero for seven in some basic questions that I asked her. As Daily Beast said, batting zero zero zero. Not a good look.
Brewer: I was completing a point when we went to break, but I think the debate about this is really healthy, and I think it shows that conservatives think for themselves.
There’s always a narrative that someone’s controlling the Republican Party, whether it’s Trump this year or in years past, everybody from Mitch McConnell to Karl Rove there has been there’s always some puppetmaster that the mainstream press thinks is controlling the hearts and minds of conservatives across this country. And I think just this local debate shows that that’s not true.
Let me read this paragraph from the story by Aaron Gulbransen about Mike Pompeo dodging our questions about why he’s endorsed a carpetbagger, Morgan Ortagus.
Now, Morgan, when I asked her, I gave her the definition of a carpetbagger as a politician who moves into an area solely for the purpose of running for office with no ties to that area.
Her response was she’s not a carpetbagger because she’s not a politician. I don’t know. I think if you announced for Congress, by definition, you are a politician.
(Brewer chuckles) If you’re a political appointee at a very high level, I would say you’re probably a politician, but nonetheless. So let me read this paragraph. It gets to your point in what is going on.
Why is this important? Why is the 5th Congressional District in Tennessee so important? Let me read this paragraph and let me get your reaction. This is by our story by Aaron Gulbransen.
“Pompeo’s endorsement of Ortagus, who has virtually no ties to the 5th Congressional District and registered to vote in the state barely three months ago, appears to signal a move by some national leaders in the Republican Party towards a British parliamentary style of selecting candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, as opposed to a traditional American style.
“Under the British parliamentary approach, the party leadership selects candidates for seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom to represent geographic areas who have no ties to those areas but are perceived to be loyal to the party leadership.” Your thoughts?
Brewer: Sounds a lot like what’s happening here. I would say the party leadership in Tennessee aren’t people who pick this, but that’s really the issue here is …
Leahy: National party leaders.
Brewer: Yeah, I get it. But the importance of local influence, the importance of local voice in these decisions. This district was recreated based on a redistricting plan of folks elected across the state. And that’s where this district came from. I think Tennessee voters will make their own decision about these things.
I’m not even saying they won’t elect Morgan Ortagus at the end of the day. But I’m saying that they’re going to do their own thing and they’re going to make up their own minds and they’re going to do their own listening, and they’re going to follow what they believe to be the best choice when they go in the polls.
Leahy: Right now, it looks like to me, there are two paths by which neither Robby Starbuck nor Morgan Ortagus will get on the ballot. The first path, of course, is the Republican State Party bylaws.
The executive committee, a group of 15 members are going to meet. We’re told that both candidacies have been challenged, as is required in the bylaws by bona fide Republicans who live in the district.
And they are going to be challenged on three, two standards that they have not voted in three out of four of the most recent statewide primary elections here.
And Robby clearly fails that standard. And Morgan probably fails that standard because you can’t import New York state voting behavior because New York state didn’t hold statewide primaries for statewide elections in 2016 and 2018 when she lived there.
So you got that going on. It seems to me problematic for them to pass when their status is challenged immediately. When that challenge is verified, they’re off the ballot. And the burden of proof to get back on the ballot for the primary is on them. I don’t see him making that case, frankly.
Brewer: No, I don’t either. But I’ll go back to my point. I mean, the last thing you want to do, if you want to curry favor with Tennesseans, is come to town and tell us what to do. The last thing. The very last thing.
Leahy: The last thing. I see the fire flashing in your eyes when you say that. You’re a guy who’s pretty controlled. But when you say something like that, I can see the fire flashing in your eyes. I can tell you, our listeners, the fire is flashing in their eyes. Don’t tell me what to do.
Brewer: That’s the third rail when it comes to people in this state.
Leahy: Yes, it’s the Volunteer State because we volunteer, because we want to, right? And don’t tell us what to do.
Brewer: No, bad idea. Real bad.
Leahy: Now the other angle on this is this bill that passed 31 to one in the state Senate. How many bills have ever passed 31 to one?
Brewer: A lot of them pass 31 to one or 32 to nothing, but I mean, not [bills] of this magnitude, not of this nature.
Leahy: That bill, sponsored by State Senator Frank Niceley, you’d have to be a resident of the state for three years before you could be eligible for the primary ballot. And that would go into effect immediately.
Now the reports are David Wright’s bill that passed out of a House subcommittee on a voice vote. And this is a report. I haven’t confirmed it. It’s three years residency before you qualify and also residence of the district in the House. Which is an interesting twist.
According to a report, I haven’t verified it will become effective November 9th, which would mean it wouldn’t apply this round. I think that might actually move as it goes to the committee to conform with the Senate bill. But we’ll see.
Brewer: Yes, we will.
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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.
Assuming Ortagus is indeed a crony of Ivanka Trump, the liberal, then taht is enough said.
Theres already a lot of that going on that you folks haven’t complained about at all, simply because you happen to agree with it.