Tennessee GOP Chairman Scott Golden confirmed to The Tennessee Star Tuesday evening that Morgan Ortagus, Robby Starbuck, and Baxter Lee are no longer candidates for the TN-5 GOP nomination after a vote by a select committee of the Tennessee Republican Party.
The select committee voted not to restore Robby Starbuck, Morgan Ortagus, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump one week before she announced her candidacy, and Baxter Lee to the ballot after they were previously removed because of verified challenges to their bona fide status.
Chairman Golden said in a statement, “This was a decision of the committee.”
The Tennessee Star previously reported that Morgan Ortagus, Robby Starbuck, and Baxter Lee were removed from the August 4 GOP primary ballot in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District by the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee (SEC).
All three had an opportunity to request that the SEC restore their names to the GOP primary ballot before the SEC sends its final list of candidates qualified to appear on the GOP primary ballot to the Tennessee Secretary of State on April 21.
The 17 member committee of SEC denied those requests. Sources tells The Star that the appeals of Ortagus and Starbuck to be restored to the GOP primary ballot were overwhelmingly rejected in separate 13 to 3 votes. Baxter Lee’s request for restoration was rejected in a 10 to 6 vote.
TNGOP bylaws allow for candidates’ Republican bona fide status to be challenged if they were not considered active members in the TNGOP, local party, or recognized affiliate, did not vote in three of the last four statewide Republican primaries, or in races where there is a Republican incumbent, have not been “vouched for” as bona fide Republicans to the satisfaction of the 17 member committee, or did not submit a filing fee.
Ortagus registered to vote in Tennessee in November of 2021 and has never voted in a Tennessee election.
Until April 19, Starbuck had not voted in a single GOP primary in the state of Tennessee. The California native registered to vote in Tennessee in July 2019, but did not vote in either the March 2020 Tennessee GOP presidential preference primary or the August 2020 Tennessee GOP statewide office primary.
Baxter Lee voted in the 2020 Democrat presidential preference primary.
Starbuck had previously threatened a lawsuit if his status was challenged. It is currently unclear if he or any of the other disqualified candidates will pursue a legal challenge.
The TNGOP’s ruling is on very strong legal ground and is protected by statute.
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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 the US State Department, “Robby Starbuck” is by Robby Starbuck, and “Baxter Lee is by Baxter Lee.
[…] three of those 11 candidates – Morgan Ortagus, Robby Starbuck, and Baxter Lee – were permanently removed from the August 4 GOP primary ballot in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District by the Tennessee […]
Both Starbuck and Ortegus are acting like spoiled children. Both are lying and defaming the GOP executive committee. I don’t believe there is one news outlet (and that includes conservative sites) who have reported this accurately. They are all using the talking points from Starbuck and Ortegus. At first I thought Starbuck was a decent candidate but then I saw his lies about when he moved to TN and also voting in TN primaries. If he lies about that then what else will he lie about? Morgan is just a State dept slickster. Their dishonesty further erodes their character.
[…] for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat Morgan Ortagus issued a statement on the decision by the select committees of the Tennessee Republican Party to disqualify her […]
Bylaws are in place for a reason. If they are viable then they can run in two years as qualified and I hope they do. I do want a candidate who has a proven record and has been tested not simply endorsed. For me and my criteria, that candidate would be Andy Ogles.
Questions have swirled ever since the bill’s introduction over whether it violates the U.S. Constitution, which only dictates that a congressional candidate be a citizen for at least seven years, at least 25 years old and an “inhabitant” of the state in which they want to be elected. The U.S. Supreme Court has previously determined that any requirement not explicitly outlined in the Constitution is out of bounds.
Indeed Bucky, for the GENERAL ELECTION. Madam NO, Baxter “Lamar” Lee etc. can freely run and make believe they have the credentials to be a U.S. Congressman in the GENERAL ELECTION as INDEPENDANTS so the constitutional requirements are satisfied. What they have no right to do is to demand to run as REPUBLICANS in the REPUBLICAN PRIMARY because only bona fide Republicans as established by the party using reasonable criterion should be allowed to run in the party’s primary. (Now all we need to do is to only let Republicans vote in Republican primaries but that’s a bridge a bit too far for our Republican establishment.)
Robby, run as an independent! I don’t live in the district, but I will gladly support your campaign from Shelby County because our GOP are Democrats in Republicans clothing! If you run as an independent, it doesn’t matter who the GOP puts up. Once you are on the ballot, you will win the whole District. The main person who writes these columns about carpetbagging may be right about Morgan, but it’s been so much crap going on in Tennessee that Tennessee Star barely reports about. Last month they were on fire, but they are barely reporting the fires now! I have to go look at Tennessee Conservative News to get the real picture. Tennessee Star News does have some good reporters, but they have shills for Establishment Rinos as well. Don’t be deceived, although some of this rule makes some sense, the author injects his opinion by saying that it has strong legal grounds. How does he know? They should sue federal court since the Tennessee Supreme Court is bought and paid for by the GOP establishment, not the GOP voters.
You’re getting some bad information out there in Shelby County and it’s making you angry and willing to do goofy things like support “Robby”. Please check your scorecard again Faithy, for if you do you will find it reads Blackburn (Heritage-87%), Hagerty (94%), Burchett (96%), Des Jarlais (89%), Green (96%), Harshbarger (100%!), Kustoff (93%), Rose (100%!) and Fleischmann (73%).
One Chattanooga Clunker out of nine! That Faithy is a roster that should make every Tennessee conservative proud and serve as an example to Republicans in other states as to what is possible. Now why don’t you forget “Robby” and do something productive like support Andy Ogles so we can make it One Chattanooga Clunker out of ten.
If only we could get rid of Little Chucky in Chattanooga, but it could be worse. Marsha Blackburn’s glee at the treatment of the 1/6 people was abhorrent, I don’t care what her score is.
Exactly. I called her [Blackburn] office several times since 2021 until even now asking her when is she going to stand up for the due process rights of the Jan 6 defendants. Her first response was that Mitch McConnell said not to get involved. Her second and only response to me through her staff aides was that she had no oversight over the judicial system. I also called her office several times over her support for the war in favor of Ukraine instead of calling for a peace solution. Her response: Get on Twitter with an off color pearl necklace fangirling for Zelensky.
The records we HAVE had of politicians that came from Tennessee is Not Good. I mean just look at Bob Corker for example. We knew his record and the Idiots all voted for him anyway. What do we have to lose with Ortagus a Trump-backed candidate ? Oh, she’s Trump-backed. That’s enough to disqualify her. Or is it that Trump’s picks for various offices have worked against him and had to be fired, or they’re just pathetic as Conservatives, like Amy Comey Barrett. And Starbuck ? He’s a fictional Sci-Fi character ? Is that his disqualification ? Or is that he’s too young. Just a kid, as it were ? We can always Write-In Oratgus anyway. But I think the Anti-Freedom RINOs have rules that refuse to count Write-Ins, don’t they ?
If memory serves what inflicted tepid conservative Corker (Heritage-63%) on us was the “idiotic” Tennessee election system that had arch conservatives Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary splitting 51% of the conservative vote between them so that Corker won with 48% of the vote WITH NO RUNOFF. What disqualifies Ortagus from consideration by conservatives even if she’s on the ballot is that she is “Madam NO” – NO connection to this community as she dropped in a few months ago, NO consistent record of allegiance to any faction of the Republican Party as she was anti-Trump before she was pro-Trump all in the space of a few months, and NO record of her having any deeply held political beliefs. Why on earth would any conservative even think of voting for Ortagus when we have stalwart conservative Andy Ogles and somewhat less conservative Beth Harwell (ACU-86%) to choose from?
100% agree.
Stuart – Agreed. Now the question is: Why is there no runoff election? This needs to be changed,
Corker was a fantastic Mayor of Chattanooga and a huge disappointment as Senator.
Perhaps Corker simply peaked too early, but then again there’s Fleischmann and “Welcome the World” Gardenhire (ACU-82%). Beats me!
[…] The Tennessee Star further reports: […]
Instead of trying to barge and threaten their way onto the Republican ballot , why don’t they all just run as independent? If they are all so great they shouldn’t be intimidated by not being affiliated with a party. Since it seems many Republicans, and Trump supporters are hip to the jig, they probably wouldn’t do very well on the Republican ticket anyway.
All three of these folks would better serve the interest of the Republican Party and their own reputation if they simply accept that the people responsible for making this decision have done so. Get on board and start pulling in the Right direction and put aside your own self interest, its about serving not getting.
[…] for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat Morgan Ortagus issued a statement on the decision by the select committees of the Tennessee Republican Party to disqualify her […]
These three candidates put together don’t have a record by which 5th district voters can have any idea how they will vote once they assumed office in the U.S. House but Baxter “Lamar” Lee and Madam No have a lot of money supporting their candidacy. What are the odds that they just say “That’s life” and walk away?