Chairman of the Tennessee GOP, Scott Golden, told Dan Mandis on Nashville’s Morning News, broadcast weekday mornings on Nashville radio station 99.7 WTN, that Morgan Ortagus, Robby Starbuck, and Baxter Lee failed to meet the Republican Party’s candidate standards.
Mandis: Scott Golden joining us. Scott, appreciated. Of course, the chairman of the Tennessee GOP. And, Scott, a busy day for you, a busy evening for you last night.
And we’ve been reporting, of course, all morning long this morning that Republicans voted to boot Morgan Ortagus, Robbie Starbuck, and Baxter Lee off of the ballot for the 5th Congressional District. So, Scott, tell me a little bit about the process.
I know that there was a Zoom call. There were 17 Republicans on this committee, and you looked at the evidence and you thought about it, discussed, debated, and you made the ultimate decision to remove them from the ballot. How close was this, Scott?
Golden: Uhhhh, not really. It was a fairly overwhelming vote by the committee. And so let me step back. So there were 16 members, and then I as the deciding vote.
Mandis: Got it.
Golden: So it didn’t even get to me as a deciding vote. So the members themselves made the decision. These are, of course, members of the state executive committee, the board of the Republican Party, if you will.
They are elected by the voters, actually will be on the August ballot. So these guys were all elected in 2018, and most of them are running again in 2022. We changed the system a little bit a couple of years ago.
I know you and I have had conversations before about what are bona fide Republicans. About five years ago, the Tennessee Republican Party upped the standard of what it means to be a bona fide Republican.
State law requires us to do that. That’s the process that we went through. And we did it for the 5th Congressional District. We’ve got more of these decisions that are coming today. And all of this, of course, has to be done by noon on Thursday, which will be the final day that the ballot is set.
Yes, last night was a very extensive meeting, looking at legal ramifications, looking at the voting records, and looking at everything that went into the decision. And the committee felt overwhelmingly that the three candidates should be off the ballot.
Mandis:Â Now, and I’m just curious about the process. Where the candidates themselves, Ortagus, Starbucks, and Lee, were they allowed to advocate for themselves? Was there any kind of, I don’t know, testimony or anything like that? Were they able to engage the board?
Golden: Not last night. But for the last two and a half months, there have been efforts, that they have talked to the individual members and their supporters talk to the members.
So there was a constant lobbying effort and explanation effort all the way through. So I think the sense I got last night from the members is that they had certainly had those conversations and felt like they were ready to take a vote.
Mandis: Do you think that the GOP Tennessee board of directors, whatever you said, the group of Republicans that decided on this, do you think that that represents where the people of the 5th are, as far as how they wanted this to play out. Have you had a lot of feedback from folks?
Golden: Yes. Obviously, it happened late last night. We were meeting so late, the vote was late. So it’s just now sort of getting out into the body politic. You’re talking about 16 members that live anywhere between Lebanon to Lawrenceville and from Hendersonville to Marshall County.
So, I mean, these guys are involved. They work with all the county parties. They’re all fairly plugged-in individuals. I suspect that they felt fairly comfortable in their vote from what their constituents – and again, they are elected officials as well, so they answer to the people that voted for them.
I know that they were hearing it from all sides. In years past it was only one person’s decision, the chairman. And the state executive committee felt like, wait a minute, that is a lot of power in one person’s hands.
We don’t want this. We want to make sure that we get a wide array of views. And so I think that all of them put in many hours kind of debating and measuring and deciding what was best for the Tennessee Republican Party.
Mandis: I talk to a lot of folks, as you can imagine, Scott, I talk to a lot of folks and people give me their opinions and so on.
I think there are going to be a lot of people that will interpret this as the Republican Party basically choosing winners and losers. Now, I’ve said ad nauseam on the air that I don’t have a dog in this fight, I don’t live in the 5th, but I see why people would think that.
And so part of the question, I guess that I would have is, when you looked at this, and you looked at everything, did you think about the fact that that could be a perception amongst Republicans?
Golden: Oh, yes. That was absolutely discussed and talked about amongst the members. Ultimately, at the end of the day, we have standards that we have set, and those standards have been in our bylaws for 30 years and were plus-ed up over five years ago.
So this wasn’t a shock. This has certainly happened before. Even during my tenure as chairman. These articles have been written. Ultimately, as an organization, our goal is to get people to go and vote.
And that is the one thing that is the prime factor for us in determining eligibility for the ballot. These are volunteers that get paid absolutely nothing but just want what’s best for the Republican Party.
They go out and vote, even if it doesn’t matter. They themselves are the ones saying, look, this ought to be the standard of the Republican Party, and particularly for an office where most of the offices that you’re running for, the first thing that you’re going to have to do is vote.
This is like the major qualification. These guys, they obviously spend time and effort, and money, to make sure that we get good Republican candidates. We set out the standards and unfortunately, the candidates didn’t meet them.
Listen to the full interview here:
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Well Robby showed his true colors last night, as a true west coast lib, by launching into character assassination. Typical of a liberal.
Ms Morgan, made the mistake thinking we are like Wyoming and not vetting our candidates. Her first fundraiser was in DC, she’s getting dark money from Oracle and she can’t name 1 road in the district.
So good riddance to both.
If you’re going to run as a party candidate, in this case Republican, why not check the rules of candidacy first and make sure you are in compliance? Then none of this happens. Seems simple and straightforward to me.