As the bitterly contested Republican primary for Governor comes to an end, Bill Lee is targeting Memphis in a late push for votes in West Tennessee. Lee has surged in the past two weeks and the few public polls show him with either a slight lead or in a dead heat heading into Election Day.
A new television ad that airs in Memphis highlights Lee’s ties to Memphis and his intent to focus on West Tennessee if he is elected Governor.
LEE Campaign Ad “Memphis” transcript:
Announcer: “For way too long, Shelby County and West Tennessee have been ignored.”
Bill Lee: “My family’s from here. My mom was born and raised in Memphis. I want you to hear it from me: As Governor I’m not going to ignore this part of the state. My campaign was the first to open an office here, and the first to release a plan specifically for Shelby County. This area has always been important to me, and that won’t change when I’m Governor. I’d sure appreciate your vote.”
Most political observers think the barrage of negative attack ads from Boyd, Black and their respective independent expenditure committees have slowed or stopped Lee’s momentum. Others question whether or not he has the organization in place to compete with the “Game Day” ground game that Boyd and Black claim to have been building for months.
Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill points out that some of the highest levels of early voter turnout have been in counties where Lee is expected to perform well.
“Although Lee’s momentum seemed to kick in after early voting began,” Gill says, “the bulk of that early vote came after his apparent surge so he may show up very well when those early vote numbers are announced shortly after the polls close on Thursday.”
“I expect the margins between the candidates to be narrow,” Gill adds, “so look for the campaigns to target specific counties and issues this week as they fight for the edge with those last undecided voters.”
What are some lessons from Black spending the most and coming in third you can wake up to Friday Stuart?
You cannot condescend from below, and when you voted in your 40s in Tennessee as a Democrat, and contributed thousands to Democrat politicians, you do not get to lecture anyone about conservatism.
You are harming youself if you get nasty. If you insult the intelligence of movement conservatives by saying Mae Beavers endorsed a moderate in Bill Lee, not only will we see you are a liar, we will be offended.
Finally, your campaign should be much more about what you are for than what you are against and which political baal you are now on your face before. This cycle became “I am the Trumpiest” in absurd ways and someone who spoke at a Never Trump event in Florida cant even make those claims well.
Bill Lee is an outsider. He ran a different kind of campaign. He had no attack PAC. The horrific favorability numbers all but end any statewide office dreams, but they were earned by Diane by going negative. Hopefully this is the last GOP primary where most of the candidates do that in our state.
Conservatives who are waiting for Thursday to finally vote hopefully will not overlook the valuable educational value of candidates losing the gubernatorial race for the future of the conservative movement in Tennessee. in the case of Randy! Boyd, his losing the race will teach lifelong centrists and tepid conservatives that if they plan to run for office as a “principled conservative” they should direct a significant portion of their eleemosynary zeal to organizations like the Heritage Foundation or Beacon Center rather than an organization whose success will attract more illegal aliens to Tennessee. Bill Lee’s losing will teach wealthy individuals who have little interest in politics but feel that they may sometime in the future want to buy themselves some office running as a “conservative outsider” to start compiling a record of involvement in the conservative movement by contributing a noteworthy amount of money to a solid conservative candidates in races against centrists or tepid conservatives. Beth Harwell’s all but certain loss in this race will teach those in leadership positions in the Republican Party that conservatives will from now on ascribe the failure to close Republican primaries in Tennessee to responsible individuals rather than to amorphous “party leaders.”
As a result of these educational takeaways from this election the conservative movement in Tennessee will be strengthened. Of course, this can only be brought about if conservatives go to the polls on Thursday and vote for Diane Black.
Lol what? Bill Lee has donated over $160,000 to conservative Republican politicians and causes including over $10000 to the Vote Yes on 1 referendum.
Diane Black has been a career politician for over 20 years and she has led nothing except smear campaigns against principled conservatives like Lee and Joe Carr. Outsider businessmen with executive mindsets are the best leaders, and Bill Lee is not only an outsider businessman, he is a solid conservative
Just as it all depended on what your definition of “is” is, it all depends on what your definition of “conservative” is. Some in the Republican Party regard anyone to the right of Pelosi and Schumer as “conservative.” If that’s your definition Lee probably won’t disappoint. If you are somewhat more particular as to who you call a “conservative,” Lee’s Republican political contribution are a hodgepodge of money to going to the very things you would expect of a non-political businessman.
OK fellow conservatives, over the past 19 years would you have made the following campaign contributions if you had as much money as Bill Lee? Mitt Romney Presidential campaign $5,000, John McCain Presidential campaign $1,300, Donald Trump $0, Bill Haslam $25,200 out of $33,900 contributed to all state candidates. I’m a conservative and a listing of my campaign contribution would not contain the names McCain, Romney, or Haslam. My list would, however, contain the names Carr, House Freedom Fund, Marsha Blackburn (before she became a congressman), Steve Gill, Lou Ann Zelenik. I say I’m a “conservative” and Lee is a political dilettante, Alexander calls Lee “. . .a solid conservative.” One of us is engaged in wishful thinking.