Robby Starbuck has achieved a maximum of 2,595 write-in votes, or roughly 4 percent of the total, putting him in fifth place for the August 4 Republican primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat.
Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles handily won the primary with nearly 37 percent of the vote and 57,275 votes were cast in the primary for nine candidates who qualified for the ballot.
As of press time, not all the write-in totals for specific individuals have been listed by the respective counties that make up TN-5, however, the total for write-in votes cast districtwide have been obtained by The Tennessee Star.
Adding Starbuck’s write-in votes, an estimated 59,870 votes were cast in the August 4. 2022 TN-5 GOP primary, giving Starbuck 4.3 percent of the vote.
The 5th Congressional District consists of parts of Davidson, Williamson, and Wilson counties, as well as all of Maury, Marshall, and Lewis counties.
These results come after Starbuck claimed on numerous occasions that he was leading in the polls and claimed on various occasions that he was going to win the race.
On August 3, Starbuck sent out an email to supporters that read in part:
Don’t let someone else choose your representative, get out and vote tomorrow! We have historic low turnout for the entire district so EVERY vote matters in this race. It’s so close that it’s going to come down to who turns out the most voters tomorrow. If everyone on my email list and everyone in the district who follows me on social media shows up — Then no one can beat us! Forcing me into being a write in was always about suppressing our vote by making people lose hope. They knew we’d win on the ballot! Don’t let that tactic work on you! The people can pull this off. If you have 10-15 minutes please also send some texts out to friends and family encouraging them to go vote as well tomorrow and write in Robby Starbuck for U.S. House of Representatives in District 5! Writing me in is easy and a chance to make history. The latest poll featured on Steve Bannon and Newsmax had me tied at the top of the field. YOU can be part of the movement that elects the first write in candidate to win a Congressional election in Tennessee history!!!
Starbuck received 42 votes in Lewis County, 1,081, in Williamson County, and 288 in Wilson County.
76 total write-in votes were cast in Marshall County, 844 in Davidson County, and 264 were cast in Maury County.
Upon combining all of the known total votes cast for Starbuck with the total write-in votes cast in other counties, the maximum total of votes that Starbuck could have received is 2,595.
Starbuck’s known votes and likely vote total puts him in fifth place, with roughly 4 percent of the vote.
Starbuck’s political future is unclear. It was noted that sometime during the final weeks of the campaign, that his house in Williamson County was put up for sale. The listing was then taken down after several individuals on social media pointed that fact out.
Starbuck was disqualified from the ballot by the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee back in April for failing to satisfy the party bylaws’ candidate qualifications to run in a GOP primary.
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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, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Robby Starbuck” by Robby Starbuck.
