Disaffected Conservatives Are Flocking to Independent David Hatley

David Hatley, a successful businessman preaching Christian and conservative values, has quietly amassed broad support from disaffected voters across the state in his self-funded run for governor. Like many Tennesseans, he identifies as a conservative, but takes liberal shots at the state GOP, corruption in politics and U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the race’s Republican frontrunner.

Hatley, who made a fortune in hot tub sales and manufacturing, has risen in the polls thanks to a big self-funded October ad push. He’s put $12 million into his race and seen results, with recent snapshots showing him polling between 10 percent and 20 percent. That's largely at the expense of Blackburn, who has recently spent big on attack ads citing Hatley’s past felony conviction.

+3

Who’s Who in the Midterms: The Battle for the Governor’s Mansion

Memphis Democrat Jerri Green is stumping hard against the heavily favored Marsha Blackburn

Hatley’s message, which combines Christianity, conservative values and arguments against political corruption, has already revealed weaknesses among traditional Republican voters, some of whom see Blackburn as an out-of-touch professional politician beholden to corporate interests. Democrat Jerri Green is expected to win around 40 percent of Tennessee voters, a share that looks more competitive as Hatley draws more Republicans away from Blackburn.

The pitch is working. The Scene on Wednesday spoke to voters in Hendersonville who showed up for a midday event at Bluegrass Yacht & Country Club. A simple lunch buffet warmed fried green tomatoes and mini sliders in the back. Afterward, a photo line snaked to the back of the room. Several people told the Scene they would normally vote Republican, but Hatley’s populist spin on conservative values won them over. In the parking lot, one traditional Republican voter pinned her resentments on the GOP establishment. 

“ I have been a Republican my entire life, and I feel like the Tennessee GOP decides who they're going to put up as candidates, and we're just gonna have to suck it up and vote for their guys, which was what makes Hatley so attractive,” said Kay, a voter who lives in Hendersonville and provided only her first name. “Ward Baker and his crew want to make sure that they get the first woman governor — ‘screw the rest of you.’  I don't think that, if Marsha wins, she's actually going to be running things. I think that Hatley's gonna pull enough people to embarrass them. He may not win, but he will come close enough to put a little fear of God into them. It’s not their party, it’s our party.”

Baker has become a bogeyman for Blackburn critics. He runs Baker Group Strategies, a political consulting agency, and is a top adviser to both Blackburn and U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty. He’s a former political director of the National Republican Senate Committee and wields big influence on Tennessee Republicans’ campaign strategies and messaging. 

Hatley’s rags-to-riches stump speech, refined in recent weeks, focuses on business acumen and hard work, a reset from recent GOP talking points. He doesn't mention transgender athletes. China comes up only when he's emphasizing how many hot tub parts in his supply chain come from the United States.

Instead, Hatley includes personal and empathetic asides about the state’s broken foster system, drug and alcohol abuse in families, and mental health challenges. The touch points mirror Democrats’ talking points in recent years that focus on the state’s role in helping support Tennesseans who are suffering from health or economic disadvantages. Public transit and trains, not Choice Lanes, are the answer to congested Middle Tennessee highways, he says — a common refrain from Democrats' progressive wing.

Gubernatorial Forum Focuses on Choice Lanes, Data Centers, Affordability

Candidates Jerri Green, David Hatley and Lauren Pinkston debate at MTSU, Marsha Blackburn declines to attend

Hatley has turned his criminal baggage — a 1998 felony bank fraud conviction related to bad checks when he was 20 years old — into a strength, casting the episode as a humbling financial mistake that taught him to value hard work and the gun and voting rights he later lost. His voting rights have since been restored, but a lack of ballot history prevented him from passing the state GOP’s ambiguous “bona fides” test, making him ineligible for the party’s primary ballot and pushing him to run as an independent.

“When I go around to these campaign rallies and I hear some of these shortfalls, people with mental health and addictions and recoveries, they hit home because I've felt them myself,” Hatley told Wednesday's crowd. “I think that God has prepped me my entire life for this journey I'm on right now. I have been battle-tested, I've been knocked down, I've had to start over, I've made mistakes. Lots of personal loss. But He's prepared me for this journey right here. Being an independent — the reason that I ran to that is because I don't want to be tied to this two-party system.”

After serving federal prison time, Hatley built LPI Inc., a hot tub and spa manufacturer based in Johnson City that has made him millions. The corporation has a registered private jet and two manufacturing facilities, but Hatley avoids the cutthroat capitalist label. He tells voters that, rather than selling to private equity, he converted the company into a collectively owned employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) that conveys shares of the company to its workers over time.

The loudest applause followed Hatley’s invectives against money in politics. Tennessee voters don’t like commingling the two, whether it’s controversial Choice Lane contracts awarded by Gov. Bill Lee or the special-interest PACs funding Blackburn. Self-funding again becomes Hatley’s advantage; no one begrudges a local success story, and no big donors have his ear. 

“ My opponent has 73 PACs that donate and that she has contacts on — she's literally going to spend two weeks with donors before she even goes in the office,” Hatley said. “What are you talking about in those donor meetings? Are you talking about getting them contracts? Are you talking about passing laws? Last I checked, you're representing the state of Tennessee, not the donor network. That is the problem. I don’t have donors to meet with. When I walk in, I’m going to get started.”