Longtime Tennessee state Senate aide Tres Wittum officially announced his entry into the GOP primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat.
In a video released by the campaign, Wittum said, “I’m Tres Wittum. I’m running for the 5th Congressional District. I’m in.”
The video notes that this is the first time in a century and a half that Tennessee has the opportunity to elect a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives. “For the first time in nearly 150 years, the Tennessee 5th Congressional District has an opportunity to pick a new kind of leadership. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been out talking to Tennesseans, listening to their concerns – but also hearing their vision and hope for the future.”
Wittum, outlining his approach to campaigning, continued, “In the coming weeks, I’ll be out traveling the district. If you see me, I hope you’ll stop me and share your Tennessee story, so together we can go to Washington and let them know that the Tennessee Volunteer spirit is alive and ready to lead this country in the right direction.”
Before he concluded with his announcement, Wittum said, “Keep checking back. Our socials will be sharing these Tennessee stories as we move along the campaign trail.”
The Tennessee Star previously reported that Wittum is a longtime aid to Senator Bo Watson and has worked for him in a variety of capacities for over a decade. From July 2011 until January 2017, Watson was Speaker pro tempore in the state Senate.
Wittum previously took issue with the candidacy of recent Tennessee transplant Morgan Ortagus, referring to her as “Advantageous Ortagus.” Noting her lack of ties to Tennessee, Wittum previously said of her candidacy, “She’s going to get a lesson in Tennessee values. That’s something I’ve been getting to learn over the last 11 years, working and learning here in Tennessee.”
Wittum filed candidate paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, April 7. He appeared at the Wilson County GOP candidate forum where The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy served as the master of ceremonies.
Wittum’s qualifying petitions signatures have been verified by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office and he will be on the August 4, 2022 GOP primary ballot, as his Republican bona fides have not been challenged to the TNGOP and he has been a resident of the state for over three years.
The 5th Congressional District consists of parts of Davidson, Williamson, and Wilson counties, as well as all of Maury, Marshall, and Lewis counties.
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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 “Tres Wittum” by Tres Wittum. Photo “U.S Capitol” by Raul654. CC BY-SA 3.0.
What a joke! Is there gold buried in the 5th District? I do not understand all this clamoring for the seat. Are they all hoping to get in so they can ride the gravy train all the way to DC? And now this “kid” thinks he can come in take that seat when there are several others more “qualified”? What is actually going on?
What’s going on Karen is that this state has preposterously easy requirements to get your name on any ballot your heart desires. What is it, 25 signatures on a petition and $25 so all too many individual look upon getting their name on a ballot as their “15 minutes of fame” much to the annoyance of the voters who have to wade through all those names of these fame seekers every election.
What this state needs is a top to bottom electoral reform i.e. tougher requirements to for ballot access, closed primaries, election runoffs or ranked choice voting etc. etc. But that would be messing with the status quo Karen, and the status quo has been nice to the Republicans in power so the Republicans in power are in turn nice to the status quo.