Fleischmann banks $275,000 in quarter
After raising more than $275,000 in the first quarter of 2017, and with nearly $800,000 in the bank, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann says he’s in a pretty comfortable position ahead of the 2018 3rd District campaign.
“Our campaign is in the best shape it has ever been this early in an election cycle, both politically and financially,” Fleischmann said by telephone Friday.
His campaign released his first-quarter fundraising figures, which showed 130 contributions from individuals, mostly from East Tennessee, and 39 from PACs and organizations, mostly out of state. Fleischmann said he’s raised funds from across the state, including Nashville and Memphis.
He will be up for his fifth term in 2018. At this point, Fleischmann said, “I think the overwhelming majority of the people of the 3rd District of Tennessee, Republican, independent and Democratic, feel very comfortable with me as their congressman.”
As he has earned seniority on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, he said, “I have been able to help our state in many different areas.”
Fleischmann said the hefty campaign war chest arms him against anyone thinking about a challenge.
In 2016, he took more than 66 percent of the vote against Democrat Melody Shekari and three independents.
He said he’s heard “no rumblings on either the Republican side or the Democratic side” from possible challengers.
But local Democrats said that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.
Liberals were stunned when Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in the presidential race, and they’ve worked to fire up the progressive base over the president’s and the Republican Congress’ moves to repeal the Affordable Care Act, slash social programs to lavish cash on the military and embrace tax cuts they say would help the wealthy and hurt the poor and middle class.
“I’m not at all surprised at Rep. Fleischmann’s fundraising,” Hamilton County Democratic Party chairwoman Khristy Wilkinson said in a statement.
“The GOP machine is definitely hard at work, as evidenced by his PAC contributions from war-profiteer Lockheed Martin, local prison-profiteer Corrections Corporation of America, and various gigantic corporate health care PAC’s. I think we can attribute at least some of his longevity to the fact that he represents one of the more gerrymandered districts in the state.
“The Hamilton County Democratic Party is stronger than it has been in quite some time,” Wilkinson said.
“We’ve had hundreds of people attending our meetings over the last couple months with more new people becoming engaged and activated. Democrats are fired up and ready for spirited races up and down ballot in 2018.”