Clockwise from top left: Gov. Bill Lee, state Rep. Robin Smith, former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, Hamilton County Commissioner Sabrena Smedley and former U.S. Sen. Bill Brock. (Times Free Press files)
While some prominent national-level Republicans publicly oppose President Donald Trump’s reelection, that isn’t the case among top local and Tennessee Republicans, where even the state’s most prominent 2016 “never Trumper” is silent this year.
Four years ago, amid the uproar over leaked Access Hollywood tapes showing Trump years earlier speaking in crude sexual terms about women, then-Gov. Bill Haslam said that, “for the good of the nation,” the GOP nominee should step aside.
Haslam told The Tennessean in 2019 he would vote for the GOP’s nominee, presuming it would be Trump. But now it’s 2020, and asked by the Times Free Press whether he planned to vote for Trump, Haslam said, “One of the nice things about not being in office is not having to answer questions like this!”
Haslam’s successor, Republican Gov. Bill Lee, is an enthusiastic supporter, telling the Times Free Press that “I support President Trump because he has supported Tennessee in our times of need. Whether it be in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty or deadly tornadoes, President Trump has given our state the resources and flexibility to meet the needs of hardworking Tennesseans.
“I share the president’s belief in American exceptionalism and am proud to back him for a deserved second term,” Lee said in a statement.