What’s the Secret SEC Seat? Why does it matter?

The Secret Seat

On occasional Republican Primary elections (we’re just assuming that you are voting GOP in the primary), you will find there’s a little known seat on the end of your ballot that most voters will skip over. This is especially concerning since this position normally never provides voters a choice. Why? Because the selection for this seat is normally hand-picked by the establishment GOP. The establishment swamp knows that most voters have no idea what this seat even is, much less the wherewithal to run, fund, and support a candidate who can oppose insiders.

What is It?

The State Executive Committee (“SEC”) seat is one of 66 voting positions in the Tennessee Republican Party that establishes the future and direction for Republicans in Tennessee and from there even selects representation for the national GOP. In Tennessee there is one man and one woman from each Tennessee State Senate District (33 Districts/66 Seats) that decides everything the Tennessee GOP represents. Historically, the selection of who will be on the ballot for this seat has been the proverbial “smoke filled room” of the establishment and their pick is always the biggest “yes man” willing to further engender the will of those in control. No one on the inside dare oppose this selection if they ever want a chance for support from the Party in the future and thus a fair chance at winning an election.

The Fight for Liberty

Despite these obstacles, those of us who’ve been in the trenches the last decade or more fighting for liberty, freedom, and the Constitution have been able to amass a small minority block of generally likeminded individuals on the SEC. And while these SEC liberty minded conservatives have been able to shift minor policies, they have not been able to change critical progressive agendas within the party itself. If you’ve ever wondered why the Tennessee GOP is so much more moderate/progressive than Texas or Florida, your representative leaders are not the only issue . . . look also to the SEC.

The Critical Vote

Within the Tennessee Republican Party there is one overarching policy that’s drives an anti-conservative position. What is it? It’s the vote by the SEC to determine if there are open or closed GOP primaries in Tennessee. See, you vote for your SEC representation and then they vote to determine the Tennessee GOP policies. In Tennessee, one of those critical policies is whether the voters in the state must actually be Republicans or not to vote in the Republican primary. And, the establishment has continued to fight to leave primaries open.

Why does it matter?

It matters because open primaries mean that Democrats can flip over and vote in Republican primaries. Now, ask yourself, if a Democrat is voting in Republican primaries, will that Democrat vote for the Constitutional, conservative candidate or the progressive leaning moderate?

And, unfortunately, the Tennessee establishment has succeeded every year in leaving the GOP primaries open so that they can continue to elect more left leaning, progressive Republicans. Consider it: How much easier would it be to elect conservative Republicans in Republican primaries if Democrats couldn’t vote in them? Now you know one of the big reasons the Tennessee Republican Party is moderate to progressive in a conservative states and why the establishment wants these primaries left open.

Now you know

Thus, now you know about the secret seat, the big vote and how we’ve come to be where we are. This has been a long, hard battle to place conservatives in these SEC seats across the state by numerous grass-roots organizations and conservative individuals. So next time, don’t just pick a name you know: make sure that person is a small government, liberty minded, Constitutional Originalist.