Sean Hannity got the facts completely wrong in a monologue he gave on the Monday, April 25 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program on the Tennessee Republican Party’s action disqualifying carpetbagger Morgan Ortagus from the Tennessee 5th Congressional District August 4 Republican primary race.
On his radio show, Hannity accused the TNGOP of “actually being willing to change the rules in the middle of the game.”
Hannity continued, “Now, the state party removed the candidates because they say that they didn’t meet their requirements to be considered Tennessee Republicans. The problem is the Tennessee and Democratic parties have the ability to set their own rules. But these rules, as I understand it, were adopted after they had already been on the ballot or had announced their candidacy. So in other words, seems like they’re changing it in midstream.”
There’s one problem with Hannity’s interpretation: The Tennessee GOP bylaws, as currently written and applied, predate the TN-5 U.S. House race.
It is unclear if he was given bad information; however, Hannity simply got it wrong, like so many other national figures who have weighed in despite knowing nothing about what occurs in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy previously laid out the timeline and exact details of the history of the TNGOP bylaws as they affected the challenge and disqualification process.
Here is a summary of the facts and dates that dispute Hannity’s misinformed claim:
August 2017 – This is the month that the Tennessee Republican Party amended its bylaws, updating the requirements for a candidate seeking the GOP nomination to be determined to be a “bona fide” Tennessee Republican. With the exception of who is the final adjudicator of challenges, these bylaws changes governed the disqualification process of Ortagus and the other two candidates.
Rather than meeting any one of three standards, candidates now had to meet the first of three previous standards – being active in the Tennessee Republican Party, plus one of two additional standards:
One, being vouched for in writing as a “bona fide” Republican to the satisfaction of the party chairman – was exactly the same as one of the three previous standards.
The second of those two standards – having voted in three of the four most recent statewide Republican primaries – was more stringent than the earlier third standard, which only required an individual to have voted in two of the four most recent statewide Republican primaries.
This change occurred four years and three months before Ortagus even registered to vote in the state, four years and five months before President Trump offered his endorsement, and four years and six months before she declared for the race.
August 4, 2021 – This is the date that the Tennessee Republican Party amended the bylaws to make the committee the adjudicator of the process in place of just the party chairman. The standards themselves did not change from 2017, only those parties empowered to adjudicate them.
This change occurred three months before Ortagus even registered to vote in the state, five months before President Trump offered his endorsement, and six months before she declared for the race.
November 2021 – Morgan Ortagus registered to vote for the first time in Tennessee.
January 26, 2022 – Former President Donald Trump announced his endorsement of Morgan Ortagus, just two months after she registered to vote in Tennessee for the first time.
February 7, 2022 – Morgan Ortagus announced her candidacy for the GOP nomination in TN-5.
February 27 , 2022 – Challenges were filed with the TNGOP to Ortagus’ candidacy, as well as the candidacies of Robby Starbuck, Baxter Lee, and Stewart Parks on the grounds they do not meet the requirements to be a “bona fide” Tennessee Republican eligible under the bylaws of the TNGOP to be a candidate for the August 4, 2022 Tennessee Republican party primary.
April 19, 2022 – The SEC permanently removed Ortagus, as well as Starbuck and Baxter Lee, from the August 4 GOP primary ballot in TN-5.
April 21, 2022 – TRP Chairman Scott Golden transmitted a letter to Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins informing him that Starbuck, Ortagus, and Baxter Lee were permanently removed from the TN-5 August 4 GOP primary ballot.
In August of 2021, The SEC passed a bylaws amendment which revised the decision maker authorized to determine the “bona fide” Tennessee Republican status of candidates eligible to run for public office in a TN GOP primary. The decision maker was changed from the chair to the committee.
One of the changes made to the bylaws reads: “The final decision concerning said individual’s bona fide Republican status shall be determined by a majority vote of the following: the State Chairman and each SEC member who represents any portion of the district covered by said individual’s proposed candidacy.”
The same amendment additionally prohibited GOP elected officials and State Executive Committee members from vouching for the bona fide status of candidates who had been challenged: “Any individual who is vouched for in writing (to the satisfaction of the decision makers defined herein) as a bona fide Republican by an officer of the TRP or a member of the CEC, excluding SEC members, of the County and/or District where said individual resides. The decision makers defined herein may require additional verification that said individual is indeed a bona fide Republican.”
A challenged candidate being vouched for is not enough to restore that candidate to the GOP primary ballot as a “bona fide” Tennessee Republican eligible to be placed on the GOP primary ballot for a public office, according to the bylaws.
The challenged candidate must be vouched for “to the satisfaction of the decision makers defined herein,” which in the case of candidates challenged in the 5th Congressional District consists of 16 members of the SEC and Chairman Golden.
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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, Twitter, and Parler.
Photo “Sean Hannity” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Morgan Ortagus” by U.S. Department of State. Background Photo “United States Capitol” by David Maiolo. CC BY-SA 3.0.
I think the issue is that many, many people think that the disqualified candidates were the best candidates. Also it appears that the deadline for disqualified candidates to provide evidence still had two day remaining. They also had a closed meeting without representation of the candidates. It appears that they are going to be sued. Overall, I think this could of been handled much better. I do think the rules and process needs to be much more transparent. They also need to somehow push the date back to ensure candidates don’t waste time and money campaigning if they need to meet some subjective standards set by the republican party.