John Wealthy endorses longtime good friend Jody Barrett for Tennessee Home seat

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Nation artist John Wealthy is "rollin’" into Tennessee’s upcoming particular election along with his personal endorsement in what’s shaping as much as be a crowded GOP major race.

Wealthy, who makes up half of the enduring duo Huge & Wealthy, is campaigning alongside his longtime good friend, state Rep. Jody Barrett, as he runs to switch former Homeland Safety Committee Chair Mark Inexperienced in Tennessee’s seventh Congressional District.

"I've identified Jody, consider this or not, since we have been seniors in highschool collectively. We really graduated the identical highschool," Wealthy instructed Fox Information Digital in an interview.

"We saved in contact, stayed good pals. However prior to now 4 or 5 years, Jody has been a state rep in Tennessee. And so points that have been occurring in Tennessee, Jody and I'd be part of forces, him sort of on the within of the political world and me standing on the surface with a very large platform and large viewers. And we'd work collectively, hand in hand, arm in arm, to make issues occur."

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John Wealthy performs through the thirteenth Annual Stars for Second Harvest profit at Ryman Auditorium on June 6, 2017, in Nashville. (Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage/Getty Pictures)

Barrett is one in every of 10 Republicans working to switch Inexperienced within the Oct. 7 major.

The final election is scheduled for Dec. 2. However within the deep-red seventh District, which President Donald Trump received by greater than 20 factors in 2024, it’s probably the winner of the GOP major will come out on prime.

Barrett, together with state Rep. Gino Bulso, state Rep. Lee Reeves, and former Tennessee Normal Providers Commissioner Matt Van Epps, have been the one Republicans invited to debate their candidacy earlier this week by People for Prosperity Tennessee, in accordance with Tennessee Lookout.

Wealthy instructed Fox Information Digital that along with showing alongside Barrett at marketing campaign occasions, he’s additionally promoted the conservative Home hopeful to Trump himself.

"I've really texted the president a few occasions about Jody. I stated, ‘You are going to need this man in Congress. I imply, that is one in every of your guys.’ And so I am hoping President Trump, possibly he weighs in on this race," Wealthy stated.

He added, nonetheless, that it’s potential Trump stays away from endorsing till after the first is over.

Jody Barrett, seventh Congressional District candidate, speaks throughout a political discussion board on Sept. 8, 2025, in Dickson, Tennessee. (AP Photograph/George Walker IV)

Barrett has supported Trump on a broad vary of points, although he notably broke from the president’s COVID-19 vaccine initiative, known as Operation Warp Velocity, through the Monday night time debate.

"We've thousands and thousands of People now who're vaccine injured, coping with the outcomes of this vaccine mandate," Barrett stated on the time.

Nonetheless, Wealthy stated Barrett has linked with Republicans in Tennessee, and he praised him for sometimes difficult institution GOP goals and selections within the state.

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"What I like about actual conservatives is we'll name out individuals in our personal get together if we expect they're making a mistake, in the event that they're on the unsuitable path," Wealthy stated. "Whereas on the left, they simply fall in line and do no matter they're instructed each single time. Jody has confirmed that he'll arise for what his individuals need."

He stated at one other level within the interview, "He’s legit. I imply, we begin speaking about what's a conservative appear to be? It is this man. And once more, once you've identified anyone because you have been 17, and now you are in your early 50s, and so they're the identical man, that is fairly uncommon."

Then-Homeland Safety Committee Chair Mark Inexperienced speaks on the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 30, 2024. (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Barrett has additionally been endorsed by the Home Freedom Fund, the political arm of the Home Freedom Caucus.

"Jody Barrett’s robust conservative file of management, not solely standing as much as Democrats, but additionally his personal get together when the RINOs get out of line, is strictly what Home Freedom Fund appears for in a candidate," Allison Weisenberger of the Home Freedom Fund instructed Fox Information Digital.

Barrett himself instructed Fox Information Digital he was "honored" to have Wealthy’s endorsement.

"John Wealthy is my lifelong good friend, a proud Tennessean, a rustic music legend and one in every of President Trump’s strongest supporters in our state. Having his endorsement means so much, as a result of he has by no means been afraid to talk the reality and arise for conservative values," Barrett stated.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox Information Digital main protection of the Home of Representatives. Earlier digital bylines seen at Every day Mail and CBS Information.