GOP Loyalty Veto Ends Paris Businessman’s Congression in New 5th District

PARIS — The campaign of Paris business owner Patrick Smith to secure a seat as the next U.S. Representative from Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District was abruptly halted Sunday after state Republican Party officials determined he was not a “bona fide Republican”.

The disqualification occurred just after the May 17 deadline for political parties to vet candidates for the August 6 primary. Smith had successfully submitted the necessary signatures to the Henry County Administrator of Elections, DeLaina Green, by May 15.

This race was already subject to turmoil following the Tennessee Legislature’s adoption of a redrawn congressional map on May 7, which moved Henry County from the 8th District into the newly configured 5th District. The 5th Congressional District is currently represented by incumbent Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Culleoka). The contentious mid-cycle redistricting, which stretched the district from Memphis through northwest Tennessee, including Henry and Weakley counties, into Middle Tennessee, was widely seen as an effort to eliminate the state’s only Democratic U.S. House seat.

The overhaul prompted a special qualifying period for candidates like Smith, who now resided in a new district, but it included a strict deadline for party officials to verify the candidates’ bona fides.

Following the May 17 cut-off, Secretary of State Tre Hargett released the final Republican primary candidate list, which included only Rep. Ogles and Charlie Hatcher of College Grove, a former state Commissioner of Agriculture. Smith and potential candidate Orrden W. Williams were excluded.

Smith was informed of the decision via an email from Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden, who stated that Smith’s candidacy had been “properly challenged” and that a majority of the TNGOP State Executive Committee members from the 5th Congressional District voted “to not grant you a waiver at this time”.

In a public statement, Smith denounced the ruling, arguing, “I have voted Republican throughout my adult life, participated in Republican primaries, supported Republican candidates, donated financially, and publicly represented conservative values... To now be told that I am somehow ‘not a Republican’ is difficult to understand and impossible for me to accept quietly”.

The Henry County Republican Party suggested the challenge was related to a history of supporting a non-Republican candidate, using internal rules to “gate-keep” the ballot and emphasizing the need for “committed, LOYAL Republicans” to represent the party in the open primary system.

Patrick Smith is the featured speaker of the McKenzie Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet on Tuesday, June 16 at Bethel University’s Vera Low Center.