Tennessee primary nominating elections would be restricted to natural-born United States citizens who do not hold dual citizenship in another nation, under legislation proposed on Thursday by State Representative Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) and State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis).
House Bill (HB) 2036 and Senate Bill (SB) 1825 by Garrett and Taylor would prohibit any individual who is not a natural-born citizen or a dual citizen from qualifying as a primary candidate for a federal election in Tennessee.
The legislation defines a dual citizen as “a legal status where a person is simultaneously recognized as a citizen of the United States and of another nation.”
A natural-born citizen is defined within the bill as “an individual who is a United States citizen at birth by being born in the United States or born abroad to parents who are United States citizens.”
Garrett, in a post to X, said that his legislation would prevent the candidacy of lawmakers like U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05).
“If you want to represent Tennesseans in Washington, you should be born in the United States. On my watch, Tennessee will never send an [Omar] to Congress,” wrote Garrett, who last year raised over $1 million for his campaign to represent Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District.
He wrote, “I’m ready to take this fight in the State House- and I won’t stop until we carry that momentum all the way to Congress.”
If you want to represent Tennesseans in Washington, you should be born in the United States. On my watch, Tennessee will never send an @IlhanMN to Congress. I’m ready to take this fight in the State House- and I won’t stop until we carry that momentum all the way to Congress. pic.twitter.com/IMjt5JkSmN
— Johnny Garrett (@JohnnyGarrett) January 22, 2026
Congress in 2024 faced calls to expel Omar, who immigrated to the United States in 1995 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000, after video surfaced showing the Minnesota Democrat appear to promise to represent the interests of Mogadishu as a federal legislator in the United States in a Somali-language speech.
“Ethiopia and Kenya have stolen and continue to occupy the Somali Region state, which belong to Somalia… We will liberate the occupied territories stolen from i.e. Somalia, Djibouti, Somaliland, and the North Eastern Province (in Kenya) that belong to Greater Somalia,” Omar appeared to say in the video.
The video showed Omar appearing to tell the audience, “For as long as I am in the US Congress, Somalia will never be in danger, its waters (Indian Ocean) will not be stolen by Ethiopia or others. The US would not dare to support anyone against Somalia to steal our land or oceans. Sleep in comfort, knowing I am here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the US system.”
Fact checks later disputed the English translation of Omar’s speech shown in the video, stating that she was actually expressing solidarity with the Somali community.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
