Morgan Ortagus’ Campaign Says Her ‘Voting Record Shows She Voted in Every Election’ She Was Eligible For

Former Trump administration State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus’ campaign said her voting record shows that she voted in every election she was eligible to vote in. Ortagus announced her candidacy for the GOP nomination in Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District earlier this month.

The Tennessee Star obtained a document that is believed to be Morgan Ortagus’ New York voting records. This document shows that Ms. Ortagus voted in the 2016 GOP presidential primary and the general elections in 2014, 2016, and 2018 in New York State. According to these records, she did not vote in the NY 2018 statewide GOP primary or the NY GOP 2014 primaries.

The Star reached out to the Ortagus campaign for comment.

As we noted in a previous email to you for comment, we have also obtained Ms. Ortagus’ Washington, D.C. voting records, which show that she voted in the 2020 GOP Presidential Primary in the District of Columbia, but no other GOP primaries in that jurisdiction between 2014 and 2020. They do show that she voted in the 2012 GOP Presidential Preference Primary.

Based on these records, it appears that Ms. Ortagus has voted in only two of the four most recent Republican primaries in locations where she was registered to vote, as we have assembled below:

DC 2020 Presidential Preference Primary – YES

NYS 2018 U.S. Senate Primary – NO

NYS 2016 Presidential Preference Primary – YES

NYS 2014 GOP Primaries – NO

DC 2012 Presidential Preference Primary – YES

Can you confirm this information accurately reflects Ms. Ortagus’ voting history?

A spokesman for the Ortagus campaign gave a statement in response to The Star’s questions on her New York voting history.

Morgan Ortagus has always fought for conservative values and conservative ideals, especially when she was living in the epicenter of radical liberalism. Because of her record fighting for conservative values and her honorable record serving our country as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, she earned the ‘complete and total endorsement’ of President Donald Trump. Her voting record shows she voted in every election in which she was eligible, but in New York, the liberals who oversee elections do not make it easy for Republicans to vote. There was not a single contested statewide Republican primary election in 2018 or 2014 that Morgan was eligible to vote in.  In New York, there is no opportunity to record a vote if there is not a contested primary in your area, so, as a registered Republican, Morgan could not have voted in either the 2018 or 2014 Statewide Primaries.

Although the New York did conduct Republican congressional and legislative primaries in both 2014 and 2018, there was not a contested Republican primary for statewide office in 2014 and 2018; nor for the congressional district, state senate district, or state assembly district in which Morgan Ortagus resided in 2014 and 2018, leaving her unable to cast a primary ballot in those years.

The Star previously reported that Ortagus only recently moved to Tennessee and registered to vote in the state less than three months ago. Ortagus has not yet had the opportunity to vote in a Tennessee election.

Prior reporting on D.C. elections documents showed that Ortagus has voted in the June 2020 GOP presidential primary.

The D.C. Board of Elections records combined with the New York State records create the appearance that she was continuously registered in D.C. from 2012 to 2014, New York from 2014 to 2020, and registered to vote in D.C. again in 2020.

The Star previously reported that Tennessee Republican bylaws proscribe that in order to run in a Tennessee Republican primary, a candidate has to be considered a bona fide Republican. A bona fide Republican is an individual who is actively involved in the Republican primary and has either voted in three of the past four statewide Republican primaries that they were eligible to vote in, or are “vouched for in writing (to the satisfaction of the decision makers defined herein) as a bona fide Republican by an officer of the TRP or a member of the CEC, excluding SEC members, of the county and/or district where said individual resides. The decision makers defined herein may require additional verification that said individual is indeed a bona fide Republican.”

Earlier, The Star reported that Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden said on Wednesday that any Fifth Congressional District candidates whose bona fides are challenged prior to the April 7, 2021 petition filing deadline are considered off the GOP primary ballot unless and until they provide the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee (SEC) with evidence that they qualify as bona fide Republicans.

A challenged candidate can restore their eligibility by either providing a voting history that shows they voted in three out of four of the most recent statewide primary elections or are vouched for as a bona fide Republican. A majority of a 13-member committee of the SEC would have to approve them as bona fide in a majority vote.

The Star also reported that sources said that challenges were made to Morgan Ortagus’ and Robby Starbuck’s (full legal name Robert Starbuck Newsom) Republican bona fides early in the week but that Chairman Golden said that he hasn’t received a challenge to any candidate’s status. Starbuck has admitted to not voting in Tennessee primaries, which means he doesn’t meet the three-of-four standard. A person making the challenge must be a bona fide Republican themselves.

Other candidates in the GOP primary are former Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead, businessman Baxter Lee, and Natisha Brooks. Former Williamson County GOP chair Omar Hamada is collecting petitions and is weighing whether to officially get in the race.

Geni Batchelor of Lebanon, Timothy Bruce Lee of Nashville, Annabelle Lee of Madison, and Alan Clement Sharp of Nashville are listed as collecting petitions for the Fifth Congressional District GOP primary.

Mayor Andy Ogles and former Speaker of the House Beth Harwell are considering getting into the GOP primary.

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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Morgan Ortagus” by U.S. Embassy.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to add details regarding the lack of a statewide or district-level contested Republican primary in New York in 2014 and 2018 where Ortagus was registered to vote.