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On Saturday October 26 in a meeting at the Cedar Bluff Public Library the Knox County Republican Party voted to censure former State Rep. Eddie Mannis and former non partisan City Council member Janet Testerman for the public endorsement of Rep. Elaine Davis General Election Democrat opponent on November 5, 2024
Mannis was the predecessor to Rep. Davis. Testerman and Davis were Republican Primary opponents in August of 2022.
Here is my October 23rd post of my reaction to the daily paper making the endorsements a news story. In my humble opinion it is NOT likely that Allie or Tyler will do a follow-up story.
Why a censure?
After the March 5, 2024 primary the Knox County Republican Party Executive Committee sent a letter to all 2024 Primary candidates (winners and losers) all Elected and Former Republican Officeholders and Former Republican Party Chairs reminding them of the expectation that after a Primary, it is expected they are to support the Republican or remain silent.
Since (it seemed) the letter was ineffective for former Rep. Mannis the action was believed to be necessary.
Of the CEC members present on October 27, only SEC Member Terry Frank and I had personal knowledge of the third endorsee former Republican Party Chair Michael McClamrock (an Attorney and former President & CEO of East Tennessee Foundation)
anyway, below is the Censure……
Text of the censure
The Knox County Republican Party (KCRP) is tasked by the Tennessee Republican Party Bylaws (hereafter TRPB) with “helping all Republican nominees defeat Democrats in general elections” (TRPB Article VIII; Section 1). All Republicans, in the spirit of the TRPB, should refrain from “assisting) in any manner, a Democrat or other non-Republican in an election or primary election in which a Republican is a candidate or has filed as a candidate” (TRPB Article II; Section 4, B ).
The recent public endorsements of Democrat candidate Bryan Goldberg over our Republican incumbent Elaine Davis in the District 18 Tennessee State House race by former Tennessee State Representative Eddie Mannis and former Knoxville City Council member Janet Testerman are unacceptable. This attempt to sow discord and disunity within the KCRP cannot go unchallenged. Therefore, the KCRP Executive Committee publicly censures the two individuals named above and takes the following actions:
- The KCRP Executive Committee recommends to the Credentials Committee of the upcoming KCRP reorganization convention that they bar the participation of these two individuals from the convention in any way;
- The KCRP Executive Committee shall seek out persons to challenge the bona fides of these two individuals should they ever attempt to run for office as a Republican;
- The KCRP Executive Committee encourages individual
Republican clubs to refrain from inviting these two individuals as speakers and to bar them from serving as club officers
Being a member in good standing of the Knox County Republican Party means supporting the party’s nominees against their non-Republican opponents. The KCRP Executive Committee urges all Republicans to unite behind all of our Republican candidates in the future.
