Trouble in Paradise? (Part 15): Mr. Smith Tried to Go to NashvilleSEPTEMBER 09, 2022 BY MARK PULLIAM
Groucho Marx is reputed to have said that he did not want to belong to any club that would have him as a member. I have the opposite problem. Last month, I ran as a write-in candidate for the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee in District 2—a position that no one else wanted—and garnered over 300 votes by GOP primary voters on election day. Over a month later, on September 7, I discovered that the “club” doesn’t want me as a member. The SEC, sitting as the “State Primary Board,” purported to nullify my election, after the votes were cast on August 4 and certified by the Secretary of State on September 1. Retroactive nullification of elections–a hallmark of banana republics—is common in the Third World but not a typical feature of American politics. Yet, by a 25 to 13 vote of the 66-member SEC (many of whom did not even deign to attend the virtual meeting on Zoom), my election was unilaterally abrogated–canceled. The SEC is the governing body of the Tennessee Republican Party (TRP), which is headquartered in the state capital, Nashville.
Why are the apparatchiks in charge of the Tennessee Republican Party (TRP) so opposed to my election? The stated grounds for objecting to my write-in win to a seat on the SEC—something that apparently has never previously occurred–is that I am not a “bona fide” Republican, as defined by the TRP bylaws...
Excerpt: Rest at headline link
Full disclosure: The author happens to be a friend of mine.
