The only contested Republican primary on the May county primary ballot stands despite a last-minute challenge.

Tennessee Republican Party officials notified Jordan Carpenter, one of two candidates in the GOP primary for Shelby County Commission District 4, that he will remain on the May ballot.

Carpenter is challenging incumbent Commissioner Brandon Morrison for the newly configured commission district that covers parts of East Memphis as well as Germantown.

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“We have received several letters from the (Shelby) County Executive Committee vouching for you as a bona fide Republican,” reads the email from Tennessee Republican Party chairman Scott Golden sent Sunday afternoon to Carpenter. “As such your state executive committee members … and myself have voted to accept your candidacy as a bona fide Republican in good standing.”

The decision came after a move among other local Republicans to remove Carpenter from the ballot, which would have eliminated the only contested Republican primary on the May ballot.

Asked by The Daily Memphian last week about a possible challenge of his status, Carpenter responded: “I am confident that I will be on the ballot May 3rd.”

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Golden did not return an email message from The Daily Memphian and Shelby County Republican Party chairman Cary Vaughn could not be reached for comment.

Qualifying petitions by Morrison and Carpenter have been certified by the Shelby County Election Commission. And the election commission meets Monday, Feb. 28, to certify the May county primary ballot for both parties.

But both political parties have the ultimate word on who goes on their ballots.

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The Tennessee Republican Party approved new rules for who can run under the Republican banner starting with this year’s elections.

By those requirements, a Republican primary candidate must have voted in three of the last four Republican state or federal primary elections. The previous standard had been two of the last four Republican primaries.

The requirements also include a fee schedule to run for any partisan office as a Republican and in a Republican primary ranging from $5,000 for those running for governor to a $25 fee for running in county district races.

It’s now known what the basis was for the challenge of Carpenter.

But the party has retained the ability to make exceptions to the old standards as well as the new standards surrounding status as a “bona fide” member of the party.

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The District 4 boundaries were changed late last year in the once-a-decade redistricting process from a majority Germantown district to one that stretches west into East Memphis but still includes six of the nine Germantown precincts.

Morrison currently represents commission District 13 but lives in District 4 under the new district lines that apply to those running to take office Sept. 1.

Carpenter, an attorney, had billed himself as being the “only authentic Republican” in the primary race.

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He cited Morrison’s recent call for the current commission to pursue a more centrist or “purple” path on legislation it wants out of the Tennessee Legislature because of Republican super majorities in both chambers of the Legislature.

The winner of the May Republican primary will face Democratic nominee-apparent Britney Chauncey in August since Chauncey is running unopposed in the companion primary.