No Carpetbaggers Allowed
We sometimes hear of someone moving from one county to another in order to put themselves into a certain legislative district; it happens increasingly often here in Iowa, both for the statehouse and Congress.
It’s not new; back in 1986, an Iowa native named Fred Grandy moved back to run for Congress…and won.
These days, it’s becoming more common for someone to move from another state, essentially just to run for office, often with no ties to the state at all. Folks in New York historically have been used to that…witness Sen. Robert Kennedy in the 1960s, and Sen. Hillary Clinton earlier this century.
The Tennessee Republican Party, however, drew a line in the sand on the issue, using a provision of state law to throw out no fewer than three candidates who were all in a crowded primary for a congressional seat…including a former state department spokesperson, Morgan Ortagus, who had the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
Party rules say a person has to be a resident of the district in question for a certain period of time before an election, and must have voted in the GOP primary a designated number of times. Otherwise, they’re not Republican enough, in essence, to be on the primary ballot.
These rules were not secret by any means, and those who ran knowing they were in violation took their chances…and in this case, fell short.
I’m not a big fan of a long list of rules to determine who is truly from a certain state or a good member of a party; in most parts of Iowa, until you are third generation, you’re still the new family in town, so we sort this out ourselves.
But I’m tempted to say good for Tennessee on this one, because having celebrity status alone is not a good qualifier for representing citizens.
