Four possible Republican candidates expressed an interest in representing Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District to The Tennessee Star when asked on Thursday after Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) announced his intention to retire from Congress at the end of his term.
The Star asked Dr. Omar Hamada, Robby Starbuck, Jeff Beierlein, Dr. Manny Sethi, and State Senators Bill Powers (R-Clarksville) and Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) about their interest in running for office.
In response, Roberts, Hamada, Starbuck, and Beierlein expressed an interest in running for the U.S. House.
“Congressman Mark Green did an outstanding job representing Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District,” Roberts told The Star in a phone interview late Thursday.
“It’s critically important that a Republican win this seat in 2024. We need a strong constitutional conservative who can raise up to $5 million over the course of the campaign between now and November to accomplish that. I have a long track record as a constitutional conservative, and am considering my options,” Roberts added.
Asked whether he has considered a run, Hamada told The Star, “I certainly have. I’m strongly considering it.”
Formerly the chair of the Williamson County GOP, he most recently considered a run in Tennessee’s 5th District in 2022, but Hamada ultimately chose to endorse Representative Andy Ogles rather than run against him in a primary.
Beierlein, who ran in the competitive 2022 primary to represent the 5th District, similarly told The Star, “I’m interested.”
“We have to get back to basic conservative principles,” Beierlein said in a Tennessee Star Report interview the day before the election, “we have to go back to being fiscally conservative, representing our freedoms appropriately. Taking up those rights that we fought for.”
While Starbuck did not rule out a run for office, he cited the release of his film, “The War On Children,” and said, “I genuinely haven’t had time to seriously consider it.”
The prominent social media influencer told The Star, “I’ve definitely received tons of messages about it since the news came out and it’s very flattering that so many Tennesseans think I’d do a great job. No matter what I’ll do everything I can to make sure that we get an America First representative in TN-7.”
Starbuck first ran as a Republican in the 5th District in 2022, but was disqualified by the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee and never allowed back on the ballot. He ultimately received nearly 2,600 votes in a write-in campaign.
The Star did not receive a response from Sethi or Powers prior to press time.
Green announced his decision not to seek reelection this week after successfully orchestrating the House impeachment vote of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The congressman explained in a statement, “Our country–and our Congress–is broken beyond most means of repair. I have come to realize our fight is not here within Washington, our fight is with Washington. As I have done my entire life, I will continue serving this country–but in a new capacity.”
Megan Barry, the disgraced former Nashville Mayor, who left office after admitting to using city resources to facilitate an affair, is running to represent the Democratic Party in its bid for Green’s seat.
