A tweet from CNN’s Elizabeth Landers indicates that Bob Corker will accompany President Trump tonight as he visits Nashville to stump for GOP Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn, including attending a rally for her.
A spokeswoman for @BobCorker confirms that he will greet @potus at the airport in Nashville tonight- and will attend the rally and fundraiser as well.
— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) May 29, 2018
President Trump’s plane is scheduled to land in Nashville at 4:30 p.m. today. A rally will be held at the Municipal Auditorium at 7:00 pm tonight, with doors opening at 2:00 pm.
President Trump held an earlier rally in Nashville attended by an estimated crowd of 10,000 back in March of 2017, also at the Municipal Auditorium.
As reported by The Tennessee Star on April 10, Corker has expressed his support for Blackburn in the past, although he stopped short of a rousing endorsement.
Though he did not use the formal term “endorsement,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) announced his support for Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN-07) bid to replace him in the United States Senate on Monday.
Corker sent this tweet out late Monday afternoon:
Now that the Republican primary has essentially concluded, I am sending a contribution to Representative Marsha Blackburn’s campaign and wish her well in her race for the U.S. Senate.
— Bob Corker (@BobCorker) April 9, 2018
As The Tennessee Star reported back then:
The GOP State Executive Committee (SEC), the governing body for the Tennessee Republican Party, met in Franklin, Tennessee at the Hilton Garden Inn on Saturday and removed eight candidates from the August 2 Republican Primary ballot for failing to qualify as “bona fide” Republicans as defined by party by-laws.
Seven of the candidates had filed petitions to run for the U.S. Senate; one had filed to run for Governor.
Party by-laws require a candidate to have voted in three of four successive Republican Party primary elections, and/or provide additional evidence of service to the Republican Party in order to qualify. Additional prospective candidates seeking election to U.S. Congress, and the state House and Senate, who do not meet the bona fide Republican standard, are likely to be removed in the next few weeks.
While Corker’s role in the 2018 race to replace him does not appear to be shaping up as significant, Trump’s role could be critical in terms of ensuring a solid win for Blackburn. He remains very popular in the state, which he carried handily in 2016.
Corker and Trump have frequently clashed, a key factor in Corker’s plummeting popularity among Republicans in his home state, which in turn prompted his decision not to seek re-election to a third term.
Corker has, however, attempted to maintain a high profile in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
During the past week, he claimed that he had turned down a Trump administration offer to become the U.S. Ambassador to Australia. On Friday, he met with Venezuela dictator Nicolas Maduro. The following day, Venezuela released an American prisoner.
