Candidate fights GOP attempt to kick him out of primary

Brandon Toney, a Germantown intensive care nurse practitioner running in the Republican primary for State Senate District 31, is fighting an effort to kick him off the August ballot.

Toney’s Republican “bona fides,” or qualifications, were challenged and now state party members are voting whether to remove him from the August ballot. Toney was set to face Brent Taylor in the Republican primary to succeed outgoing State Sen. Brian Kelsey, who is not running for reelection following his indictment on allegations of illegally redirecting campaign finance dollars.

According to the Tennessee Republican Party’s bylaws, a person must vote in three of the past four Republican primaries to be considered a bona fide Republican.

In a letter to the state party appealing the decision to remove him from the ballot, which is subject to a vote of local statewide party members and the party’s chair, Toney acknowledged that he had not voted in the primaries in question. The reason, he said, was due to the stressful nature of his job and medical issues related to the birth of his daughter.

State executive committee members appeared to be voting via email, Toney and Kristina Garner, his campaign manager, said. A member of the state executive committee confirmed they had cast their vote on Toney’s “bona fides” via email.

The Republican bylaws offer a path for someone to prove they’re a genuine

Republican.

They also allow a candidate to have local senior party members vouch for them through letters and require the support of Republican organizations. Toney said in the letter he had donated $1,000 to the state Republican Party.

“Other candidates in Shelby County who failed to meet the same standards being held against me were allowed to remain on the ballot and continue their candidacies. I ask for the same grace and understanding,” Toney wrote. “I am clearly a Republican with a demonstrated record of supporting Republican candidates and committees, including serving as a campaign co-chair in our area to support the election in 2016 of Donald Trump.”

Toney said he believes the party is making the effort to kick him off the ballot to stack the deck for his opponent, Taylor, a former Memphis City councilman, Shelby County commissioner and former Shelby County Election Commission chairman.

Toney noted that Shelby County Republican Party Chair Cary Vaughn and state executive committeemen Chris Bird and Terry Roland, two people who could be potentially voting on his ouster, had donated to Taylor’s campaign.

Vaughn did not return a request for comment.

Scott Golden, Tennessee Republican chairman, did not return a request for comment.

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.