Live from Washington, D.C. Wednesday evening, Neil W. McCabe, the Washington correspondent for The Star News Network, took a moment to talk to attendees of Morgan Ortagus’ Ash Wednesday fundraiser at the American Trucking Association. Ortagus is a candidate for Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District.
McCabe: We’re here at the Capitol Hill offices of the American Trucking Association (ATA) where the ATA is hosting an Ash Wednesday fundraiser for Tennessee Republican House hopeful Morgan Ortagus.
There, Washington attorney Charlie Spies leads Clark Hill’s political law section and was chief counsel for Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign. His wife Lisa Spies was the professional fundraiser organizing the Ash Wednesday party for Morgan Ortagus.
Spies: She’s just a leader that people know in Washington and is now focused on Tennessee.
McCabe: Do you think it’s appropriate to have a beer and wine fundraiser on Ash Wednesday?
Spies: I’m not Catholic so I don’t know the answer to that.
McCabe: Texas Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw was one of the official hosts for the party.
Crenshaw: She’s got the experience. She’s a friend. I know her uh so you know that matters a lot when you support somebody. You got to know their soul. You gotta know their character.
And she’s got it. She’s got amazing experience under the Trump administration working directly for Mike Pompeo and really implementing what I would call a very highly rational foreign policy.
McCabe: What about her challenge convincing people that she belongs in that district when she just registered to vote three months ago?
Crenshaw: The people of Tennessee will figure that out. I mean as far as she’s from Tennessee you know just like I’m from Texas.
McCabe: Another attendee was Morgan Vina who was U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s chief of staff.
Vina: Morgan is a good friend she represented the administration. Cannot be a better representation of the previous administration she is a star and she will represent the Fifth District with incredible integrity. I look forward to seeing her and what she has to deliver.
McCabe: Morgan Ortagus is running in a crowded field of Republican House hopefuls making it one of the most tightly contested races in the country. The Republican primary is on August 4th. Reporting for The Star News Network this is Neil W. McCabe, Washington.
Watch the report:
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Photo “Morgan Ortagus” by Morgan Ortagus and photo “American Trucking Associations conference” by American Trucking Associations.
