Records show that a recent entrant into the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat, businessman Baxter Lee, voted in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary.
The Tennessee Star reached out to Baxter Lee to confirm the authenticity of the voting record supplied by the Williamson County Election Commission. Lee confirmed the records and issued a statement on his vote in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary.
In 2020, I followed the advice of Rush Limbaugh’s operation chaos, and voted in the Democratic primary to help secure the best match-up for President Trump. That November, I voted for Donald J. Trump against Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of our great country. I am a lifelong Republican voter, donor, and supporter. From 1994, when Tennessee first elected Fred Thompson, Van Hilleary, Zach Wamp and Bill Frist, to my time working for Fred Thompson, I have always supported Tennessee Republicans. I was a Republican when Democrats were the majority in Tennessee, and I am proud to be one today.
The Star asked Lee, as a follow-up question, which of the Democrat presidential candidates he voted for, and have not yet heard back as of this writing. Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Tulsi Gabbard were on the March 3, 2020 Democrat ballot. It is currently unclear which of the Democrat field received Lee’s vote.
Baxter Lee’s voting record also shows that he voted in three of the last four Republican primaries, which satisfies part of the Tennessee Republican Party bylaw requirements to run in a Republican primary.
As there is no mention of what effect voting in a Democrat or other political party nominating process has on a candidate’s status, it is currently unclear if voting in a Democrat statewide primary would make a candidate’s bona fide status vulnerable to a challenge.
Section 2 of Article IX of the Tennessee Republican Party bylaws governs the challenging of a candidate’s “bona fide status.”
The challenge is made to the state chairman from two or more registered voters from within the district that the candidate is running in. A statewide candidate could get challenged from any area of the state, while a congressional candidate could only be challenged from that congressional district. All the individuals making the challenge must “voted in at least three (3) of the last four (4) most recent statewide Republican primary elections. Such a challenge must be made no later than five (5) days before the deadline for removal of a candidate’s name from a ballot under TCA Section 2-5-204 or otherwise, or any other applicable deadline.”
As of this writing, Baxter Lee is the only candidate identified by The Star whose voting record shows a recent vote in a Democrat primary.
Of the candidates that are publicly announced, more than one may be vulnerable to a challenge to bona fide Republican status. Robby Starbuck’s voting record shows that he never voted in a Republican primary in Tennessee. Sources have told The Star that former Trump administration spokesman Morgan Ortagus did not register to vote in Tennessee until November of 2021.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Baxter Lee” by Baxter Lee.
