Tennessee Republican leaders tout Trump, set sights on November during annual fundraiser

Victory in November was the theme of the evening as Tennessee's top Republican brass gathered for an annual fundraiser dinner in Nashville on Saturday night.

About 1,200 state lawmakers, county and state Republican Party executives, lobbyists and politicos gathered at the Music City Center for the 47th annual Tennessee Republican Statesmen’s Dinner.

U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty — who both serve on Trump’s leadership team — stumped for Trump in their brief remarks. In criticism over the Trump guilty verdict, Hagerty accused the Biden administration of “contorting every aspect of the federal government” and “mobilizing them into a warfare that we have never seen before here in America.”

"Most of us could not have imagined that in America we could see what happened in Manhattan two and a half weeks ago with the verdict that was delivered against President Trump," Hagerty said.

Sharing that he’d spoken to the former president this week, Hagerty pledged to “run the score up” in Tennessee, bringing home an even bigger win for Trump than in 2020 when he won with 60.7% of the vote.

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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry keynote speaker

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who was sworn in earlier this year, headlined the event, claimed that Democrats have held a double standard of applying justice, citing the two Democratic-led impeachments of former Trump, and an unsuccessful Republican-led impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. He also decried Trump's hush money guilty verdict.

“If Trump is guilty on all of those 34 counts, then half of New York and all of Wall Street should be in jail,” Landry said.

Landry emphasized the important leadership role states play in protecting freedoms and pushing back against what he described as “the grip of anarchy that has infected the country.”

“D.C. seems more focused on creating problems rather than solving them, making me believe that the true solutions are found in Gov. (Bill) Lee’s model, which is opportunity, security, and freedom for all,” Landry said. “We fix America when we fix our states.”

Landry touted Louisiana’s new universal licensing law to help draw professionals to the state, saying "y'all better watch out, we might actually make some of y'all LSU fans before its over” sparking fervor from the crowd.

“I’m going home to sign a bill that places the Ten Commandments in public classrooms,” he said. “And I can’t wait to be sued.”

The Pelican State governor called the two states "kindred spirits," lauding Tennesseans of 200 years ago who under General Andrew Jackson came to the Cajun army's aid at the Battle of New Orleans — and also poking some little good-natured fun two cities in each state.

“New Orleans and Memphis, they're like sister cities,” Landry joked. “New Orleans is like your high-maintenance but seductive cousin, while Memphis is your warm and friendly buddy — but she’s got a hidden razor in her boot.”

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CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger, who is a potential 2026 gubernatorial candidate, was chair of the event, announcing that more than $600,000 was raised prior to the start of the evening. Hininger and his wife, Carrie, personally paid for souvenir glasses engraved with the Tennessee Republican Party's logo for each guest as a memento.

Another potential gubernatorial candidate, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, offered the invocation.

In a new tradition, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, and House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, started naming “Legislators of the Year” from both chambers. McNally chose to honor Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Ferrell Haile, who presided over the upper chamber for several weeks at the beginning of the legislative session as McNally recovered from leg surgery. Sexton named Rep. Mary Littleton, R-Dickson.

Haile and Littleton are both facing serious primary challenges this year.

Another state lawmaker, Rep. Greg Vital, R-Harrison, was named “Statesmen of the Year” in the 3rd Congressional District by U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah.

The night also featured a tribute to mark 30 years since the 1994 elections when Republican Don Sundquist was elected governor, and Bill Frist and Fred Thompson were first elected to the U.S. Senate, sparking a wave of Republican victories. Republican Party Chair Scott Golden touted Tennessee as turning into the “reddest of the red” states, noting the largest vote differential between President Joe Biden and Trump in 2020 was in Tennessee, with more than 708,000 more votes, compared to Texas and Florida.

With near total control of every statewide, federal and state legislative seat in the state – and even Nashville gerrymandered by Republican leadership to exclude representation by a Democrat in Congress – one could wonder what more work is to be done?

“One day we will turn Memphis red again,” Sexton told the room. “And I know that day is coming very soon.”

Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com or on X at @Vivian_E_Jones.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Republican Party Statesmen's Dinner: Leaders eye November