Forever Trump's, Faithfully: No Surprises Expected from Tennessee's Electors

NASHVILLE, TN — Jason Mumpower knows a thing or two about shock elections and unexpected votes.

Back in 2009, Mumpower — then a Republican lawmaker from Bristol — was on track to become the state's first GOP Speaker of the House since Reconstruction, as his party held a 50-49 advantage.

But in one of the most shocking political moments in Tennessee history — and that's nothing to sneeze at, considering Tennessee once swore a governor in early to prevent his predecessor from continuing to hand out pardons-for-pay — an obscure fellow northeast Tennessee Republican named Kent Williams voted with the 49 Democrats to install himself as Speaker of the House.

So, if there's any man who knows the import of counting votes and making sure everybody is on the right page, it's Mumpower, now the chief of staff to Comptroller Justin Wilson. It just so happens Mumpower is also one of the state's 11 electors who will meet Monday — the Monday after the second Wednesday in December, as specified by the 12th Amendment — at the State Capitol to vote for the next President of the United States. Tennessee went overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in November and Mumpower and his 10 fellow Republicans are pledged to the real estate developer and reality television personality.

While Tennessee is not among the states that punish so-called "faithless electors" — 29 states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books assessing some kind of small fine to electors who cast votes for someone other than the candidate to whom they are pledged; some scholars believe the laws are unconstitutional, but since none have ever been enforced, courts have never ruled on the matter — Mumpower said all 11 of Tennessee's electors will be voting for Trump.

A movement of sorts has developed since Election Day to convince enough electors to switch votes to defeat Trump, or at least deny him a majority, which would send the election to the U.S. House of Representatives, in which each state would have one vote to cast among the top three vote-getters in the Electoral College, a situation which has not occurred since the election of 1824. In the weeks after the election, some of Tennessee's electors said they were being "harassed" by people asking them to switch their votes.

This movement has led to increased attention to and various interpretations of Alexander Hamilton's Federalist No. 68. There's been much citation of Hamilton writing the Electoral College can prevent candidates with "Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity" from winning the nation's highest office. Precious little attention has been given to the second half of that sentence: "may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State," which clarifies that Hamilton only sought to prevent a candidate able to produce overwhelming majorities in one state from winning the whole shebang. As revelations about alleged Russian interference in the election have emerged, another argument from Federalist No. 68 — that the Electoral College could thwart "the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils" — has gained more notice.

None of this, however, is working to sway Tennessee's electors. As elector Tom Lawless told WSMV, "Hell will freeze and we will be skating on the lava before I change."

Image via Patch staff