New Tennessee Bill Would Disqualify Congressional Candidates Ortagus And Starbuck

Image Credit: MorganOrtagus.com – Robby Starbuck / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

A set of companion bills introduced in the Tennessee Legislature would disqualify two Tennessee Congressional candidates for District 5 should they pass into law.

House Bill 2764 (HB2764), sponsored by Representative Dave Wright (R-Corryton-District 19) and Senate Bill 2616 (SB2616), sponsored by Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains – District 8), as introduced, would prohibit a person from being nominated as a candidate for United States senator or member of the United States house of representatives unless the person has voted in the three previous elections in this state (Tennessee). – Amends TCA Title 2.

Should this bill pass into law, it would stymie the campaigns of Republican congressional candidates Robby Starbuck and Morgan Ortagus for the District 5 U.S. Representative seat currently held  by Democrat Jim Cooper, who announced he will not seek re-election after Tennessee’s redistricting plans were finalized.

The bill seeks to place more restrictions on qualifications to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in Tennessee.  Under current law, the minimum qualifications call for the candidate to be at least 25 years old, a resident of the United States for at least seven years and when elected, the person must be a Tennessee resident.

Robby Starbuck, a former Hollywood music video director/producer, watched his career crash and burn when he came out as a Conservative in 2015 loudly voicing his support for Donald Trump.  He moved to Williamson County a bit over two years ago and launched his campaign to turn District 5 from Blue to Red.

Starbuck has garnered a host of endorsements for office including those from Senator Rand Paul, Candice Owens, Charlie Kirk, Madison Cawthorn, Ric Grenell, Jenna Ellis, Ralph Norman, Rudy Guiliani, Ken Buck and Kelli Ward, among others.

In response to the new bill, Starbuck told the Tennessee Conservative, “It’s no surprise to me that some folks continue to try every trick in the book to silence the people’s voice. They know we’re winning this race and they’ll try everything to stop us. This is American though. In America, we let the people choose their representative, not a small group of the elite. Our Constitution makes clear what the requirements are for running and I meet those requirements. If they weren’t afraid of me winning, then there would be no need for this bill.

The reason they fear our campaign is because we actually represent the people and they know my decisions will be predicated off of what’s best for the people and not what’s best for lobbyists or special interests. Enough of our legislators value the voice of the people that this attempt to stop us will fail but it says a lot that it’s been attempted,” Starbuck concluded.

Morgan Ortagus is a financial and national security analyst who served as spokesperson for the United States Department of State from 2019 to 2021.  She previously held several government positions including deputy Treasury attaché and intelligence analyst at the United States Department of the Treasury and public affairs officer at USAID.   Ortagus worked as national security contributor at Fox News prior to her appointment as State Department spokesperson.  She is also an officer in the United States Navy Reserve.

Ortagus is a recent Nashville (Germantown) transplant hailing from Florida.  Prior to moving to Tennessee, she had few ties in the state until joining a health care investment firm.

Ortagus announced her campaign for the District 5 seat following an endorsement from former President Donald Trump early this month (February).

When we reached out to the office of Ortagus for comment on the new bill, her spokesperson replied, “As a true conservative, Morgan will leave state decisions up to state legislators and the Governor. She is honored to have President Trump’s endorsement.”

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An investigation by The Tennessee Star has revealed that Ortagus is not a resident of District 5, she is instead a resident of Tennessee’s District 7.  However, residency in the district is not a requirement for U.S. House of Representatives elections.

Section 2 of the new bill currently being considered in the Tennessee General Assembly states that the “act will take effect upon becoming a law.”  So should the bill pass both houses of the legislature and is signed by Governor Lee, it would effectively halt the congressional aspirations of the two candidates in the 2022 midterms.

As of the publication of this article, HB2764 has already been introduced and assigned to the Elections and Campaign Finance Subcommittee but it is not yet on their calendar.  SB2616 was already passed on first and second consideration and placed on the Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for February 15th.

HB2764 does not have any co-prime sponsors.  However, SB2616 has a co-prime sponsor in the Republican Senator from Bolivar, Page Walley (District 26).

In an interview with the Tennessee Conservative that we posted on February 1st, Robby Starbuck said, “I’m sure the establishment is going to throw some people at us,” implying that he was expecting there to be some obstacles to overcome with his campaign but the bill seems to have blindsided all parties involved.

Starbuck expressed his concern during the interview about whether he would still be in District 5 after the redistricting process, but found that he was still a resident of the District when the maps were finalized.

The Tennessee Conservative reached out to the offices of Rep. Dave Wright and Sen. Frank Niceley for clarification of intent and comment but have not heard back at the time of publication.

We will publish updates as new information becomes available.

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