Morgan Ortagus, a former candidate for the Republican nomination for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat, told a Fox News host on Monday morning that she didn’t know why she was disqualified from the ballot.
“You know, I’m not really sure, Brian,” Ortagus responded to Fox News host Brian Kilmeade when he asked her, “You’re not going to have a chance to run for the Republican nomination in Tennessee as a congresswoman. You got booted off the ballot – why?”
She added, “There’s a slate of people who are really competitive and who had raised a lot of money who were deemed in a private, secret vote not to be Republican enough, which I think – we all think – is laughable.”
The Tennessee Star previously reported that Morgan Ortagus, Robby Starbuck, and Baxter Lee were permanently disqualified from the August 4 GOP primary ballot in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District by the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee (SEC). Their Republican bona fide status was challenged to the TNGOP.
All three candidates had an opportunity to request that the SEC restore their names to the GOP primary ballot and present their case individually to members of the committee.
Under the Tennessee Republican Party (TRP) bylaws, the 17-member committee of the SEC had the authority to decide on the merits of the appeals to their removal. The committee denied those requests. The vote that resulted in Ortagus’ disqualification was 13-3.
Ortagus was disqualified from the TN-5 Republican primary because she failed two standards listed in the TRP bylaws: Ortagus failed to meet the standard of voting in three out of four Tennessee statewide GOP primaries because she never voted in a single election in Tennessee; and she only registered to vote in the state in November of 2021.
She also failed the vouching standard, which in the bylaws required that the challenged candidate be vouched for as a “bona fide” Tennessee Republican “to the satisfaction” of the 17-member committee. Ortagus had vouching letters sent to the committee, but they did not meet the committee’s standard.
The criteria used by the committee to determine whether Ortagus’ vouching letters met their satisfaction may have included:
- Length of time supporting the Tennessee Republican Party
- Type of participation was cited – was it to support the party and advance Republican ideals, or was it to advance their own candidacy?
- Their voting record as previously mentioned in this article.
- How long they lived in and were registered to vote in the state of Tennessee. In Ortagus’ case, she did not live in Tennessee until 2021, and did not register to vote in Tennessee until November 2021.
The committee made its decision after a thorough review of the appeal documents submitted by Ortagus and the two other challenged candidates. The disqualified candidates failed in their efforts to persuade the committee that they met either of the two required standards to be determined to have “bona fide” Tennessee Republican status necessary to be eligible for inclusion on the GOP primary ballot for an elected public office.
Ortagus was removed procedurally in accordance with the Tennessee state code and the TNGOP bylaws.
A prominent national political consultant who is familiar with Tennessee politics told The Star regarding the disqualification of Ortagus, Starbuck, and Lee: “If the disqualified candidates were being honest about assigning blame, they’d consult a mirror. They failed to properly prepare for running for office under the long-established rules of the TNGOP. They wanted the committee to flout their own rules and let them in. Now, two of them are running around calling the TNGOP horrible things when in fact, they have no one to blame but themselves and the people they hired, who gave them bad advice.”
Watch the interview:
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, and Parler.
Photo “Morgan Ortagus” by U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Canada.
It’s just too bad Hagerty didn’t face the same scrutiny…and I wish Trump would stop listening to the likes of McCarthy.
Honey, you ain’t from ’round here. Move in and get to know the people and the issues we care about before you run for office
I think this TN-5 fiasco will be good for the Star. It’s bringing a lot of attention there way.
Good coverage.
Her Q&A on Michael Patrick Leahy’s morning show was true telling.
Morgan Ortegas demonstrated complete disregard for the voting citizens of TN on national television in her dishonest answer that she doesn’t know why she was taken off of the ballot. She registered to vote in TN less than 6 months ago. Who knows if she even lives in TN- let alone the 5th district- and she’s suddenly the expert on what the people of TN are thinking, as well as the apparent “sheriff” who is going to “clean up the corruption” in the TN GOP, with whoever she means by “we”.
The rules are pretty clear and “you’re still not sure”. Doesn’t speak too highly of your reading comprehension.
Poor little lying RINO!
She should drive up Interstate 75 to Nashville and demand some answers
It would be faster if she took the I-75 Loop.