Tennessee GOP appeals to keep Starbuck off 5th Congressional District ballot

(The Center Square) — Robby Starbuck’s quest to be placed on the ballot for the Republican primary in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District will have to make it through an appeals process before ballots are set to be finalized on Friday.

Starbuck was previously removed from the primary ballot by the Tennessee Republican Party after a vote on his Tennessee Republican bona fides and he filed both federal and state suits requesting an emergency injunction to be placed on the ballot.

Starbuck received an injunction in Davidson County Chancery Court on Friday and the Tennessee Republican Party is now attempting an appeal. Starbuck’s counsel needed to file a response to that appeal by 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Court of Appeals will first have to decide if it will hear the appeal and then potentially hear that case this week.

Chancery Judge Russell Perkins in Davidson County Chancery Court ruled on Friday that Tennessee’s Republican Party violated the state’s Open Meetings Act by voting 13-3 against his Tennessee Republican bonafides at a closed meeting.

“All other appropriate public officials are expected to immediately take steps to treat the Defendants’ April 11, 2022, decision as a nullity and restore Plaintiff, Robby Starbuck Newsom, also known as Robby Starbuck, to the ballot,” Perkins wrote.

The suit detailed Starbuck’s claim that he was first invited to the meeting where the vote would occur and it was later closed.

“During a call with Mr. Starbuck in March, the TRP first indicated its meeting to decide the merits of the complaint against him (which would eventually take place on April 19, 2022) would be public,” the suit claimed. “However, just days before the April 19 meeting, the TRP informed Mr. Starbuck he could participate by Zoom — but it would not be a public meeting. And, in fact, within 24 hours of that meeting, the TRP informed Mr. Starbuck that his representatives could not join him if he attended. And, ultimately, on the day of the meeting, the TRP told him he could not participate, either.”

Trump-backed Morgan Ortagus and Baxter Lee were also removed from the ballot by the Tennessee GOP on the same day but neither have filed suit for an injunction to be placed back on the ballot.

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