Charles Cook Podcast

This year I worked on a Tennessee State House race in which nearly 87 percent of the Democratic candidate’s individual donors—more than 3,300 of them—came from outside the state. Roughly a third of those out-of-state donors were from California. That raised a question: Has a Tennessee Republican state legislator ever received donations from more than 3,300 conservatives who live in our state? Why are radical liberals and leftists in California more invested in a Tennessee House race than many Tennesseans who vote Republican? If candidates and their message are the weapons, fundraising is the ammunition. We can recruit strong Christian conservative candidates with the right message, but without ammo they are just shiny firearms that can’t win battles. As conservatives, let’s make a commitment—at a minimum—to take supporting conservative candidates and organizations right here in Tennessee more seriously than a liberal Democrat in California cares about our races. We do not need to send most of our dollars to out-of-state federal candidates or national Republican organizations simply because they claim to be fighting in the battleground states. Tennessee has battleground districts and counties right at home. If we do not start focusing on them, we will become a battleground state soon. Earlier this year Republicans lost at least 32 school board and county commission seats across at least 15 counties. Republicans came uncomfortably close in the mayoral races in Hamilton, Knox, and Washington Counties. We just lost six state House seats and likely a U.S. House race. The battleground is here. Again: if more than 3,300 out-of-state Democrats can donate to one Democratic state House candidate in Tennessee, then we can match that intensity for our own conservative candidates and organizations. That support can be an occasional one-time gift or a recurring monthly donation that sustains the fight—not just to keep Tennessee red, but to move it so boldly in a conservative direction, grounded in the founding principles of this nation, that no other state comes close. It is your choice: make a voluntary sacrifice on the altar of Liberty today, or wait until Democrats force a much larger sacrifice on the altar of government. There is no free lunch.