Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed renowned Republican political consultant Ward Baker of Baker Group Strategies in the studio to weigh in on Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District race.
Leahy: In the studio as our special guest, (Darth Vader theme plays) Mr. Ward Baker, the man who is feared by his opponents, and who’s highly effective. And, Ward, you know Tennessee politics backward and forwards. That’s an understatement. A little bit.
You’ve managed Marsha Blackburn’s campaigns for Congress and her successful campaign for Senate. Managed Bill Hagerty’s campaign for Senate.
Successful campaign. In fact, you sent me a letter before the election results and predicted exactly what the primary election results would be, like a week before I got it from you. You knew what was coming down, you had it planned, and you succeeded in that plan.
Baker: Well, we have a good team, but we were off 2.3 percent, so we had to go back to the drawing board.
Leahy: (Chuckles) Speaking of drawing boards …
Baker: Yes, sir.
Leahy: Speaker of the House here in Tennessee, Cam Sexton, went to the drawing board as he’s required to do. Constitutionally redrew the boundaries for the congressional districts, and, of course, now the 5th district, which was a D plus-20, Davidson County, a little bit of Cheatham, Dickson, has been redrawn.
It’s got the lower third of Davidson, the western half of Wilson, the eastern half of Williamson, and all of Maury, Marshall, and Lewis counties in this race.
One week from today, the Republican nominee, our friend Andy Ogles, former mayor of Maury County, is running … he did a great job against the Democrat nominee, State Senator Heidi Campbell. Now, Heidi Campbell has had some unkind words to say about you, Ward Baker.
Baker: Hurtful.
Leahy: You look shocked. I see the tears. I see the tears. (Chuckles) What was it she called you? The infamous Ward Baker? Is that her best shot? I mean, c’mon.
Baker: I’m more likely to be endorsed by Head and Shoulders than she is to win the Tennessee 5th district (Gulbransen laughs).
Leahy: Boom shaka-laka.
Gulbransen: That was a much better retort …
Leahy: That is very good. Ward Baker has sort of like the Michael Jordan look.
Baker: I was going bald, and it was a very bad look, and so I decided just to shave it a long time ago. So that’s what I’ve gone with. I don’t have the flowing locks like you do, the hairstyle.
Leahy: When he says flowing locks, just remember, he arrives here like he’s going to a state dinner. I arrive here looking like to catch…
Baker: That shirt looks like it’s from Three’s Company, Mike.
Leahy: It is. It’s comfortable. But here’s the good news: this is radio.
Baker: I understand.
Leahy: Not television.
Baker: Sure.
Leahy: Okay, so the 5th district, what’s it look like?
Baker: One, I believe Andy has done what he needed to do. In races like this, it’s all about turning out your voters, and it’s making sure that you execute and you don’t make mistakes. And so a lot of people that say he should do this or he should do that; basically, he has done everything he needed to do. It is a good environment.
Andy’s going to win. We were very fortunate by the leadership of the Speaker and the House and the Senate that we drew this. This gives another vote for Republicans.
Leahy: It’s a plus-one in the state, the Tennessee congressional …
Baker: But what’s more important than that, what’s more important – and a lot of people don’t think about that – is we’ve taken away jobs from Democrats. We’ve taken away a minor league where they are able to employ people.
They are able to bring people in, they are able to train people, and then those people, through their resources, are able to help other candidates. And we’ve taken that off the board. So this is a huge blow to them.
Republicans haven’t always done a very good job of helping young people. The Democrats have. And we need to be shipbuilders. We need to build the ship. We need to train the crew.
We need to give them the coordinates and put them on their way. And now we have another seat that we can do that in. And so that’s what I’m really excited about.
… We can’t be greedy, so we need to make sure that we keep executing and winning more seats. We shouldn’t stop here.
Leahy: Seven days until we launch that ship in the midterm elections.
Baker: That’s correct.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Ward Baker” by Baker Group Strategies. Photo “Andy Ogles” by Mayor Andy Ogles for Congress. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by Ken Lund. CC BY-SA 2.0.
He ought to, it was gerrymandered well enough for him…
Go cry to your mother or leave the state if you don’t like it!