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 the new GOP nominee for mayor of Rutherford County, Tennessee, Joe Carr, in-studio to talk about the primary election and his encouragement regarding high poll numbers.
Leahy: Right now, we are delighted to welcome to our microphones in the studio, recovering journalist and all-star panelist Clint Brewer. Good morning, Clint.
Brewer: Good morning, Mike.
Leahy: And also a good friend and GOP nominee for the office of mayor in Rutherford County, Mr. Joe Carr. Good morning, Joe.
Carr: Morning, Michael. Morning, Clint. Good to see Clint, especially this morning, Michael.
Leahy: (Laughter) We’re having fun. That’s it.
Brewer: It’s good to see you too, Mayor. Can’t say mayor yet. (Laughter)Â
Carr: We’re having fun. Having fun. That’s it.
Leahy: A little inside baseball inside. Clint was a little skeptical.
Brewer: He’s proved me wrong. He won the primary.
Leahy: You won the primary.
Brewer: Congratulations.
Carr: Thank you. You’re a good sport. (Laughter)
Brewer: Now look, Mike tried to let me off the hook about this. I said I’m coming in. I’m going to take it.
Leahy: That’s what real men do. It’s two weeks from today, Election Day, August 4th for everybody.
Carr: For everybody. (Laughs)
Leahy: Everybody. Early voting has begun, and early voting will continue until July 30th. What kind of turnout are you seeing in Rutherford County?
Carr: I’m glad you asked that. That’s a great question because I get the turnout numbers from the Rutherford County Election Commission every night. The turnout is as predicted. It’s kind of low, but we’re on track for about 30,000 total turnouts for this election, plus or minus.
Republicans are outvoting Democrats two to one. There’s 68-69 percent of the turnout thus far participating in the Republican primary because as you know, it’s not just a general election ballot.
Leahy: It’s a general election for the county-level seats right. And a primary election for the state legislature and the Federal House of Representatives.
Carr: Right. So we’ve got two things on the ballot, and we’re encouraged, when we’ve got a two-to-one margin, Republicans over Democrats in Rutherford County, because obviously, we’re running as the Republican nominee for Rutherford County mayor. And I think Clint could probably chime in on this. But I think that bodes well for our chances.
Leahy: You don’t have a Democrat. There’s no Democrat running.
Carr: There’s no Democrat, but there are three Independents.
Leahy: Three Independents. Okay. So they’ll split the non-Republican vote, clearly.
Brewer: No, it’s the primary season in Tennessee, so, I mean, you’re just going to have a higher Republican turnout. I mean, it’s where the energy is. It’s where the majority is. You don’t really have anything super-big at the top of the ticket driving turnout.
You just have the numeric advantage of the fact that this is a more Republican state, and so it trickles down into local races. I think it’s probably happening across the board in these big suburban counties.
Carr: And so name ID is everything if you’re on a general election ballot in a primary election statewide in August like we are. So name ID is imperative if you’re a general election candidate, which we are. So I’m extremely encouraged.
The numbers that we’re getting from our poll watchers at early voting centers is really good. But as you guys know, the best way to lose a race is not to finish the race. So we’re going to run through the tape.
Leahy: That’s the phrase. Run through the tape. I knew that would be something you’d be saying right now because you’re going to run through the tape for two weeks.
Brewer: Run like you’re behind.
Carr: Always.
Leahy: And when we come back, if all goes well, we’ll see, Dr. Ben Carson is scheduled to call on the newsmaker line. We’ll talk to him. He’s got an event going on. So we’ll all jump in and have a conversation with Dr. Ben Carson.
And then we’ll go back and get to the big question, the big issues in Rutherford County with Joe Carr and also our all-star panelist, Clint Brewer. Joe is running as the GOP nominee for mayor of Rutherford County.
Listen to the interview:
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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 “Joe Carr” by Joe Carr.Â
