9 Of 10 House Republican Candidates Supported By The TN Education Association Lost The Primary

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The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) chose to support the campaigns of several Republicans vying for a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives, but only one of the GOP politicians they chose to support won in the Primary.

The TEA has actively been involved in lobbying against charter schools, school choice and partisan school board elections, among other efforts by some Republican lawmakers to improve education in Tennessee.

The consistent answer the TEA has to Tennessee school’s poor academic performance is to funnel more money into the system, an act that many Conservatives and Republicans feel is the wrong course to take.

Campaign Finance Records indicate that TEA’s top investment in a Republican candidate was for Donnie Hall in District 32, with $12,700 spent to support his campaign.

Out of 5 candidates, Hall came in fourth only receiving 14.6% of the votes.  Trailing Hall was Candidate Randy Childs who received 8.8% of the votes.  Candidate Monty Fritts won the primary with 33.7% of the votes, followed by Candidates Teresa Kirkham and Keaton Bowman.

The second highest monetary investment by the TEA was $12,500 to support the campaign of Gabriel Fancher for District 13 .  He lost to Candidate Robert Stevens, who won with 60.2% of the vote with Fancher receiving 39.8%.

District 64’s Jason Gillium received $11,000 in total from the TEA but lost to incumbent Representative Scott Cepicky, who received 54.5% of the vote with Gillium receiving 45.5%

District 24’s Troy Weathers received $10,000 from the TEA and came in second of the four candidates.  Kevin Raper won with 38.7% of the vote and Weathers received 34.3%, followed by Israel Farless with 14% and Rex Wagner with 13%.

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District 20 Incumbent Robert ‘Bob’ Ramsey received $5,000 from the TEA in support of his campaign and the organization also sent out a mailer to Democrats in his district encouraging them to vote in the Republican primary for him.

Ramsey only received 35.2% of the vote, losing to Candidate Bryan Richey who won the primary with 64.8% of the vote.

Candidate Bob Ravener also received $5,000 from the TEA, but only landed 38.5% of the vote.  District 61 was won by Candidate Gino Bulso with 61.5% of the vote.

In another rather close primary, Candidate Bobby Robinson, who received $4,000 from the TEA, lost to incumbent Representative Paul Sherrell, with 49.6% of the vote.  Sherrell won with 50.4%.

Incumbent District 40 Representative Terri Lynn Weaver received the least of any Republican candidate from the TEA at only $2,500.  She lost the primary to Candidate Michael Hale who received 59.6% of the vote to Weaver’s 40.4%.

William Brock Martin, who received $10,000 won the primary in District 79 receiving 56.3% of the vote.  His opponent was Candidate Gordon Wildridge, who received 43.7% of the vote.

While Jeff Eby’s campaign contributions do not show a monetary donation to his campaign from the TEA, the organization did send a mailer to Democrat voters in his district encouraging them to vote for Eby in the Republican primary for House District 69.

Eby came in third by percentage of the votes in District 69 with 20.1%, with Candidate Jody Barrett winning the primary with 39.7%, followed by Candidate Brian Johnson with 34.1%.  Eby was trailed by Candidate Angela Redden who received 6.2% of the vote.

Another mailer was sent to the Democrat voters in Senate District 7 by the TEA encouraging crossover voting for Senator Richard Briggs in the primary.  Briggs won with 66.1% of the vote, challenged by candidate Kent Morrell, who received 33.9% of the vote.  Campaign Finance records do not indicate that Briggs received monetary contributions from the TEA. 

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com