State and local Republican leaders, as well as former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, spent Friday evening at the Westin hotel rallying and urging a room full of local conservatives to get ready for the 2020 elections at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner.
Over 400 people were in attendance at this year's dinner, a fundraiser for the county's Republican Party.
Hamilton County Republican Party Chairwoman Marsha Yessick attempted to set the tone from the beginning, pointing out the color scheme she'd chosen for the event: Purple.
"Because if the people in Washington, D.C., the red Republicans would work with the blue Democrats, we could form purple," she said.
However, other speakers weren't as keen on working with Democrats as they were about aiming to convert Democratic voters.
"We're doing great things in Tennessee," Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada said. "But next year is an election year we want to help turn the hearts and minds of those Democrats."
Chaffetz, former chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, was the keynote speaker and echoed Casada's thought.
He pointed to social media and how easy it is to argue with people.
"We could go and scream at each other all day long," he said. "My guess is, that's not very effective. How do you actually get to the point where people come your way?"
He asked attendees to think about "why we do what we do."
"I really think you need to break bread with people. You need to talk to people, and explain to them and share with them why it is that you believe what you believe.
"Democrats, they think that they own the compassion card. They just love the idea that they care more."
Before the event, Chaffetz told the Times Free Press he thinks there's a need for Republicans to speak from the heart.
"Sometimes we as Republicans try to overly impress people with numbers and statistics," he said. "I think we can win that fight, but it's more effective if you [connect with people]."
Chaffetz, the U.S. representative from Utah's 3rd congressional district from 2009 until he left Congress in 2017 - 18 months before the end of his term - also talked about his time in public office and working with now-Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
"I'm so proud that she's now the senator," he said during the event. "I remember seeing Taylor Swift come out and make some silly comment. I thought, 'Wait a second, my family likes Taylor Swift! What in the world is going on?' And then [Blackburn] just crushed [the election]."
Chaffetz is currently traveling and speaking in support of his New York Times best-selling book "The Deep State: How an Army of Bureaucrats Protected Barack Obama and Is Working to Destroy the Trump Agenda."
"The American spirit will never be broken," he said Friday. "It's bigger, stronger than any politician or any crap that's going to happen in Washington, D.C., or any stupid story that's gonna be written in the New York Times. Those things, at the end of the day, don't matter."
Contact staff writer Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327 with tips or story ideas. Follow her on Twitter @HughesRosana.