Law would rule out favorite Trump candidate
NASHVILLE — Tennessee lawmakers on Monday passed a residency requirement for Republican and Democratic U.S. House and Senate hopefuls that would kick in right away, a move that aims to nudge at least one GOP hopeful for a redrawn, open Nashville House seat off a crowded primary ballot.
After a standoff over whether to delay the change until after the 2022 midterm general elections, the House relented and went with the Senate’s view that the proposal should take effect for this year’s contests. It now heads to Republican Gov. Bill Lee to decide whether or not to sign it into law.
If it’s signed, the change could be destined for a court fight.
It is unclear if the proposal is legal under 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.
In the race for the Nashville House seat, former President Donald Trump has announced his endorsement of Morgan Ortagus, which has ruffled Republicans who say Ortagus is a recent transplant to not only the district but also Tennessee. Ortagus was a U.S. State Department
spokesperson during the Trump administration.
In a guest column in The Tennessean earlier this month, Ortagus wrote: “Whatever the outcome of this bill, I will continue to fight for my country, my state, and my community in any way that I can.”
“No one questioned my residency when I served our coun
try in the intelligence community, the Trump Administration, nor in the U.S. Navy Reserves, and President Trump certainly didn’t question my residency when he endorsed me for this seat,” Ortagus said in a statement Monday, mirroring her previous comments.
Separately, video producer Robby Starbuck had previously alleged that lawmakers were trying to keep him out of the race. But he said Monday that under the amended version of the bill that passed, he has lived in Tennessee for long enough. Starbuck announced plans to run for Congress before Nashville
was carved into three districts, and has received U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s support.
Meanwhile, the bill’s Senate sponsor, Republican Sen. Frank Niceley, is backing another GOP candidate in the congressional contest, former Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell.
The bill’s passage comes as the GOP-dominant Legislature has grappled with a flurry of candidates seeking to win Tennessee’s newly drawn 5th Congressional District, which became open after Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper announced he would retire rather than run in a district that carved up Nashville, making it impossible for him to win any of the three seats in his view.
Under the bill that passed, U.S. House and Senate candidates would be required to meet the same criteria imposed on state legislative candidates, who must be Tennessee residents for at least three years and residents of the county they’ll represent for at least one year “immediately preceding the election.”
The field to replace Cooper keeps growing. Fifteen Republicans have picked up petitions for the race, compared with four Democrats. With redistricting, the 5th District went from reliably Democratic to a seat that Trump won by 12 percentage points over President Joe Biden in 2020.
Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles recently made his campaign official. Others running include small business owner Baxter Lee and retired National Guard Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead.
Even without the new law, there are mechanisms within the state GOP to try to remove someone from the ballot.
State party rules say candidates need to have voted in three of the last four statewide primaries to be deemed “bona fide” Republicans, determined after someone files a challenge. But there also is a party process that lets others vouch for someone to be considered “bona fide” and remain on the ballot, which is determined in a vote by party officials.
The candidate filing deadline is April 7 and the primary election is on Aug. 4.