The Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee voted in a specially called meeting on Saturday to tighten the standards for candidate eligibility in GOP primaries in the state, effective immediately.
Article IX, Section 1, Paragraph B of the Tennessee Republican Party (TRP) bylaws had been previously amended in a September 7, 2023 meeting of the SEC to state that “Beginning in 2026, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Article IX, Section 1A, an individual who has voted in any of the most recent four (4) statewide primary elections held by a party other than the applicable Republican Party will be ineligible to seek the Republican nomination for any public office in Tennessee.” (emphasis added)
Subsequently, a significant number of the 66 member State Executive Committee (SEC) objected to the delay in this bylaw beginning in 2026, on the grounds that it opened the door for Democrats to run in 2024 GOP primaries.
SEC member Lulu Elam (pictured above) organized a letter from 27 fellow members of the SEC calling for the special meeting to change that bylaw so that the provisions of Article IX Section 1 Paragraph B would begin immediately.
An amendment to that effect–changing the beginning language of Article IX, Section 1, Paragraph B from “Beginning in 2026, notwithstanding…” to “Notwithstanding…” narrowly passed in Saturday’s special meeting by a 32 to 29 vote.
In an interview on Thursday on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, State Executive Committee member Chris Morris explained that loose application of the current bylaws have resulted in the possibility that candidates that are not really Republicans could be eligible to run in GOP primaries in 2024:
Morris says that the TNGOP has been approving candidates for the ballot – specifically in school board races – that have only voted Republican one out of four times, which does not meet the bona fide status.
Morris said the Political Subcommittee of the State Executive Committee voted 9-1 “in favor of letting the people who did not meet bona fide status on to the Republican ticket.”
“We’re not following our bylaws…Article 9 of the Tennessee Republican bylaws,” Morris explained. When the bylaws clearly state, no matter how you look at it, you have got to be three out of four. No ifs, no ands, no buts.”
Morris said the State Executive Committee is holding a special called session this Saturday, January 27, where he hopes the subcommittee’s 9-1 vote will be reversed.
The standard of eligibility to run as a candidate in a GOP primary, as set forth in the TRP bylaws, played a prominent role in a 2022 court case, in which Robby Starbuck challenged the validity of those bylaws which specified that only individuals who had voted in three of the four most recent GOP primaries were eligible to run in a GOP primary. Both Starbuck and Morgan Ortagus sought to be on the 2022 GOP primary ballot in the newly drawn 5th Congressional District, but were disqualified by the party for failing to meet “bona fide” standards. The Tennessee State Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the TRP in June 2022, and neither Starbuck nor Ortagus were placed on the ballot for the August 2022 GOP primary in the 5th Congressional District.
Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) won the August 2022 GOP primary as well as the November 2022 general election.
One other candidate disqualified by the TRP bylaws who sought the 2022 GOP nomination in the 5th Congressional District, Baxter Lee, chose not to litigate against the TRP to be placed on the primary ballot.
Saturday’s change in the bylaws may disqualify Lee from running in any GOP primary in 2024, as he voted in a 2020 Democrat primary as part of what some media personalities called “Operation Chaos.”
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Michael Patrick Leahy is the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow him on X at @michaelpleahy.
Photo “Lulu Elam” by Lulu Elam.
Stop this silly “New rule of the month” and close the primaries to registered republicans.
Then there will be no doubt who is a Republican.
We’ll all have the official ID card, as well as the secret handshake, and password.
Does this mean that non bonafides will be removed from the March 2024 ballots? That’s my question. We’ve got multiple people running in Knox County Republican primary who are not bonafide at all.