NASHVILLE – A Senate-passed bill that seeks to impose an immediate three-year residency requirement for candidates running in Democratic and Republican congressional primaries wouldn’t take effect until Nov. 9 under a proposed House amendment – a change that would allow two recent transplants to Nashville to proceed with campaigns that would have been cut short under the Senate bill.
“The day after the general election” is when the bill would take effect under the amendment, House bill sponsor Rep. Dave Wright, R-Corryton, confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
His comments come after the Republican-controlled Senate on Monday night voted 31-1 on a bipartisan basis for Senate Bill 2616, sponsored by Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains.
Niceley said his bill requires anyone running in a primary election for Congress or U.S. Senate to have been a legal resident of Tennessee for at least three years, and it would knock newcomer candidates out, even if they already qualified for the ballot under existing rules. State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, was the lone no vote in the Senate after objecting to that aspect of the legislation.
Wright said in an interview in a Cordell Hull State Office Building corridor that he hasn’t had time to tell Niceley about the details of the change yet.
“He knows what I’ve been thinking,” Wright said. “I mean, we’d talked about that.”
Wright also said he thinks the would-be law’s implementation date should be delayed because candidates already have been picking up qualifying petitions for several weeks.
“People are making plans, so that’s just my opinion,” Wright said. “I’m only one vote. We’ll see what my fellow committee members have to say about it.”
The House version is up in the House Elections & Campaign Subcommittee on Wednesday.
Niceley said he is bringing the bill because of two recent transplants who have announced as candidates in the 5th Congressional District, a once heavily Democratic district that was redrawn to include large swaths of GOP voters.
One candidate is Morgan Ortagus, a former State Department spokeswoman who moved to Nashville about a year ago. She has picked up the endorsement of her one-time boss, former President Donald Trump, as well as her other boss, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
But under the Senate version of the bill, Ortagus would not qualify to run. She declined to comment on the bill Tuesday, saying it’s a state matter.
Another relatively recent Tennessee transplant, conservative blogger and former video and commercial producer Robby Starbuck – who lives in Williamson County – said in a text to the Times Free Press on Monday night that the three-year residency requirement in Niceley’s bill poses no problems for him.
“The bill doesn’t affect me as I meet the requirements within it. I’m focused on fighting for the people of District 5,” Starbuck said.
He said he began renting a home in Williamson County in December 2018 before buying it in June 2019.
The U.S. Constitution sets qualifications for House and Senate members, and court cases have found limited state ability to alter that. But during Monday night’s debate, Niceley argued his bill is lawful because it doesn’t preclude any candidate who’s lived in Tennessee for less than three years from running. They just can’t qualify to run in a Republican or Democratic primary.
Besides Ortagus and Starbuck, other officially declared Republican candidates include former Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell of Nashville. Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles, a Republican, has also shown interest in running in the 5th District.
Ogles pointed to his family’s deep roots in Williamson County in an interview at the state office building Tuesday.
“Are we going to let people from D.C. parachute people into the 5th District because it’s a career move or because they see an opportunity to get their people elected?” Ogles said. “This is our seat, and so I’m committed to making sure that someone who has deep Tennessee roots gets elected to that office. We have a whole cadre of Tennesseans that have put their name out there, but I support Sen. Niceley’s bill. It passed overwhelmingly bipartisan, 31-1, and hopefully, the House will do the same and protect Tennesseans.”
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.