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Inside the GOP effort to scrub a Trump-backed candidate from ...


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The New York Times
SOURCE: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/gop-effort-scrub-trump-backed-candidate-tennessees-ballot-rcna27257
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Summary

Party officials overwhelmingly voted to end her candidacy, even as interviews with more than a dozen stakeholders, officials and candidates, many of whom professed their full support for the former president, revealed a split over Trump’s effort to influence the race.“I heard this over and over: ‘Well, I’m all for Trump, but he doesn’t need to be telling us who the hell to vote for,” said one member of the state party’s executive committee, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the vote. In a statement, Republican National Committee senior adviser Richard Walters said the committee “had no involvement with the recent action taken by the Tennessee Republican Party.”In the Nashville-area district, insiders said the decision to boot Ortagus had less to do with any rebuke of Trump as it was to send a message to anyone who thinks they can move to the fast-growing city and immediately launch a congressional bid.A Republican operative in the state, who requested anonymity to speak candidly on the effort, said the plan initially centered on pursuing a residency requirement bill that could have, if enacted before the April 7 filing deadline, stopped her candidacy in its tracks.The legislation, which passed both branches of the statehouse with overwhelming support, was for messaging purposes, this Republican said, adding that its advancing through the statehouse helped drive conversation about how Ortagus only recently moved to the state. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tweeted it was “Exhibit A of political corruption and good ol' boy politics” while Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr. posted, “voters should decide elections, NOT politicians making backroom deals.” Starbuck himself called the SEC “a tiny group of establishment RINO hacks,” shorthand for the pejorative “Republicans in name only.”  In a statement, Ortagus said that while she won’t be in Congress, she will “continue to fight for my country and for Tennessee conservative values,” calling the state officials responsible for her removal “establishment party insiders.” At a heated meeting of the Davidson County GOP last week, which featured SEC members answering questions from dismayed local Republicans, activists pressed the voting members on the decision, questioning why the state party wants “to say goodbye to all the voters, all this momentum” and thinks “that you’re better than the voter,” according to video of the meeting obtained by NBC News.

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