Tennessee state Senate aide Tres Wittum is anticipating announcing his entry into the Tennessee 5th Congressional district Republican primary during the first week of April.
Tres Wittum told The Tennessee Star, “I’ve been in the exploratory phase. I’m meeting with business leaders and voters. The discussions have been overwhelmingly positive. It’s coming. I anticipate making an announcement concerning my entry into the race during the first week of April.”
Wittum has already been listed as collecting petitions for the race by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office. The deadline to turn in those qualifying petitions is April 7. Wittum is expected to announce by the deadline at the latest.
Wittum is a longtime aid to Senator Bo Watson and has worked for him in a variety of capacities for over a decade From July 2011 until January 2017, Watson was Speaker pro tempore in the state Senate.
A source close to Wittum told The Star that the campaign will be a very unique one, different than other campaigns, and that it plans to tell “the Tennessee story”.
The Star previously reported that Wittum had some strong words for recent Tennessee transplant Morgan Ortagus, referring to her as “Advantageous Ortagus.” Noting her lack of ties to Tennessee, Wittum said of her candidacy, “She’s going to get a lesson in Tennessee values. That’s something I’ve been getting to learn over the last 11 years, working and learning here in Tennessee.”
While Ortagus enjoys the distinction of a Trump endorsement, Wittum previously stated that he stands on his own and that he believes Trump should still be president. “At the end of the day though, I’m not running on another man’s name or another man’s accomplishments. I’m Tres Wittum and I stand on my own, but I do believe in President Trump’s accomplishments and believe he should still be in the office of President of the United States.”
Declared candidates in the GOP primary for TN-5 include former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Beth Harwell, former Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead, Natisha Brooks, Baxter Lee, California native Robby Starbuck, D.C. insider Morgan Ortagus, New York native David Vitalli, and Stewart Parks.
The Republican bona fides of Vitalli, Ortagus, Starbuck, and Tennessean Baxter Lee have been challenged to the Tennessee Republican Party. They cannot take action on those challenges until the April 7 qualifying petitions deadline passes. It is unclear at this time if the TNGOP will allow them on the ballot or not.
Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles is still considering entry into the race, as is former Williamson County GOP Chair Omar Hamada. Hamada has said that he will not run if Ogles gets into the race.
TN-5 consists of parts of Davidson, Williamson, and Wilson counties; and all of Maury, Marshall, and Lewis counties.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR.
Photo “Tres Wittum” by Tres Wittum. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by Raul654. CC BY-SA 3.0.
