Tennessee Republican Party Chair Scott Golden, in a statement exclusively provided to The Tennessee Star, reports that 2022 saw a record number of GOP candidates qualifying to run for office in the state.
“Red Wave ’22 is sweeping across the nation and there are more Republicans than ever before running in Tennessee. We have more candidates for more offices in more counties than we have ever had in the history of Tennessee,” said Golden.
“The overwhelming majority of voters chose the Republican ballot in our most recent elections. We view that as further proof that our country is about to right itself to get rid of the Biden and the Democrat policies that are hurting everyone,” he added.
In total, 7,090 individuals of all parties pulled petitions paperwork statewide.
Of those, 5,941 were returned to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office. Of that number, 2,719 were Republicans, 2,623 were Independents, and 598 were Democrats.
1,734 Republicans made it through to their primary elections ballot. 330 Democrats made it through to their respective primary ballots.
According to the TRP, amongst local, state, and federal election GOP primaries, 38 candidates were challenged in accordance with the bylaws of the Tennessee Republican Party, which is empowered by the state code to determine who is a “bona fide Republican.” Of those, 24 challenged were restored to the ballot.
To put it another way, 1,734 Republicans were qualified by the TRP for the primary ballot and 14 were disqualified. Those numbers underscore the fact that the challenge process, while a basic tool that the Tennessee Republican Party has in its toolkit, is used sparingly, and only offenders who clearly fail to meet the qualifications of the TRP bylaws are disqualified from the ballot.
The local Republican primaries came and went on May 3. The remaining GOP primaries in Tennessee, which include statewide, TRP state executive committee, General Assembly, and U.S. House offices, are scheduled to take place on August 4, 2022.
2022 is expected to be a wave year for Republicans nationwide, and if Tennessee’s Republican candidate recruitment efforts are any indication, the Volunteer State will be a part of that red wave.
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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 “Tennessee State Capitol” by Author Unknown. CC BY-SA 3.0.
