On Thursday, the Randy Boyd for Governor campaign demonstrated that it has not yet grasped the first rule of holes: “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.”
Boyd’s announcement on Wednesday that failed presidential candidate and prominent Never Trumper Jeb Bush will headline a November 30 fundraiser for the Knoxville businessman in Nashville was met with a fury of online scorn and pointed derision from his Republican gubernatorial rivals.
“Please clap,” read the subject line of an email sent out by gubernatorial candidate Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) within minutes of the announcement. The email pointed out Bush’s consistent attacks on President Trump, and his long-term Never Trumper status.
“As for Randy Boyd, his decision to bring the very unpopular Jeb Bush to Tennessee on his behalf shows how out-of-touch he is with issues affecting Tennessee’s schools,” gubernatorial candidate Mae Beavers told The Tennessee Star.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press carried the Boyd campaign’s response to Black’s devastating critique of the Randy Boyd/Jeb Bush fundraising event:
Republican Randy Boyd’s campaign is hitting back at GOP gubernatorial primary rival Diane Black after her campaign labeled his plans to have former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush headline a Nashville fundraiser as a “match made in establishment heaven.”
Boyd spokeswoman Laine Arnold suggested U.S. Rep. Black has spent a little too much in Washington.
“Each of those claims is ridiculous and false, and honestly beneath the dignity of Diane Black,” Arnold said. “This is Tennessee. Not DC. We don’t act that way down here.”
Tagging Boyd and Bush as two peas in a pod and out-of-touch elitists appears to be a very effective tool for his gubernatorial rivals, especially in light of the reported hefty contributions required to see the two of them on the same stage together in Nashville on November 30.
“Tickets start at $1,000 per head,” the Times Free Press reported.
The Times Free Press also noted that Boyd attempted to tie himself to President Trump, despite his long-term support of and friendship with Jeb Bush:
Bush has been a harsh critic of Trump, both during the campaign and afterwards.
“Randy is a strong supporter of President Trump and a long-time friend of Jeb Bush,” Arnold said. “We look forward to having their support.”
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s former state commissioner of economic development, Boyd backed Bush in the primary and ran as an at-large delegate to last year’s Republican National Convention.
Boyd’s contribution record says otherwise, however.
In 2012, the wealthy Boyd donated thousands of dollars to the Mitt Romney campaign and helped fund raise for him.
In 2016, however, Boyd did not give a penny to President Trump’s campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.
In fact, Boyd publicly stated as late as five months before President Trump’s election in November 2016 that a Trump victory would be “anathema” to him.
As The Star has reported extensively, Boyd shares a pro-open borders, pro-amnesty political ideology with Bush.
One $250,000 donation to Conexion Americas, a George Soros affiliated group in Nashville, has given rise to the nickname “La Raza Randy” Boyd.
In June, Conexion Americas launched an aggressive Never Trumper political campaign attacking President Trump over his tough stances on immigration and border control:
Renata Soto, is the co-founder and director of Conexion Americas, a named partner affiliate of the National Council of La Raza (La Raza). In 2015, she was made Chairman of La Raza’s board and the following year, gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd donated $250,000 to her Nashville organization. Shortly after Trump was elected President, Soto announced that she would begin organizing against the new administration by starting an “Indivisible” chapter in Nashville.
“I invite you to join INDIVISIBLE, a campaign bringing together concerned Americans who commit to protect the promise of an indivisible nation that celebrates the roots and possibilities of all its people,” Soto wrote in a December 2016 op-ed published in The Tennessean.
On Friday, Soto will hold another ‘Indivisible’ event at the Conexion Americas building Casa Azafran. Among the activities promoted at the event, attendees of all ages are invited to “RAISE YOUR VOICE Write postcards to our legislators supporting the principles of an INDIVISIBLE community.”
On Thursday, Jeb Bush’s brother, former President George W. Bush “delivered a public repudiation of President Donald Trump’s political identity, suggesting many aspects of the current administration are fueling division in the United States and around the world,” as Breitbart News reported:
The former president defended the ideas of globalism, free trade, and free markets as well as foreign interventionism around the world in a speech at the George W. Bush Institute.
“We cannot wish globalism away,” Bush said, noting that the United States must sustain “wise and sustained global engagement” for the future of the country.
Bush indirectly accused Trump of fueling dangerous ideologies that threatened the unity of the United States and global stability, spending a large portion of his speech complaining about social ills in the country.
The two other candidates for the Republican gubernatorial nomination – Williamson County businessman Bill Lee and Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell – have offered no comment on the Randy Boyd-Jeb Bush fundraiser in Nashville.
Maybe La Raza Randy should move to Florida and run for the Senate there. Tennessee deserves better. His records speaks loudly for itself.
As a former tenner an _Ho now lives in Florida, we DON’Twant him. Let him run for governor of California.