Democratic hopeful blasts Rep. DesJarlais, claims COVID-19 endorses the Republican
NASHVILLE — In fundraising pleas on Twitter, a hopeful in the Tennessee 4th Congressional District’s Democratic primary is raking up years-old controversies involving Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais while also asserting that COVID-19 endorses the congressman.
“My opponent pulled a gun on his first wife & shot it, forced her & mistresses into three abortions, & illegally prescribed painkillers for a patient he was sleeping with while married,” Democrat Christopher J. Hale charged in a tweet over the weekend which he linked to ActBlue, a website helping Democratic candidates raise money online.
“Me? Not so much,” Hale added. “I will vote to give you health care though.”
On Monday, Hale, a Murfreesboro resident who in 2018 ran unsuccessfully for his party’s nod in the same congressional seat, sought to tie the coronavirus to the 4th District race.
“BREAKING: My opponent has been endorsed by the virus. Congressman DesJarlais deserves it,” Hale wrote on Twitter. “A no vote on free tests, the small business stimulus, and paid sick leave, no has worked harder for the virus. I’ll help beat the hell out of it. Chip in today: the coronavirus.”
In response, the DesJarlais campaign issued a statement blasting Hale.
“This young kid, who was twice rejected by his own liberal Democrat party, is now running a vile, vulgar, and dishonest campaign out of his parents’ basement that time and again disgusts an overwhelming majority of the good people of the 4th District.
“If he gets out of the Democrat primary, he’ll learn that his fake bravado, scummy social media tactics, and his love and affection of Obama and Pelosi and their policies will be summarily rejected and have him seeking another job in November,” the DesJarlais campaign added.
In addition to running for Congress two years ago, Hale, who has described himself as a “pro-life progressive,” ran unsuccessfully earlier this year to unseat Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini in a three-person race won by Mancini.
DesJarlais’ personal issues, outlined in court records from the thenSouth Pittsburg physician’s 2001 divorce, were first raised in the physician’s successful 2010 campaign against thenU.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, a Democrat, in the sprawling rural district.
Additional information tumbled out during his 2012 campaign. It was revealed that DesJarlais’ ex-wife had had two abortions and accused him of intimidation, physical abuse and erratic behavior. The list included charges he once “dry fired” an unloaded gun outside a bedroom door as his then-wife huddled inside, according to the divorce proceeding’s transcript.
No bullet was actually fired, according to the court records. They also showed sworn testimony that DesJarlais pressured a female patient with whom he was having an affair to get an abortion. DesJarlais said in the proceeding that he didn’t believe the woman was actually pregnant.
DesJarlais was later fined by the state medical board for having had sexual relationships with two patients. But the congressman, who had remarried with no ensuing flare ups, later said he believed God had forgiven him and asked constituents to do the same. They did, re-electing him in 2014 despite a nail biter of a contest in the GOP primary and another Republican contest he won more easily in 2016.
According to the Federal Election Commission website, Hale through March 30 had reported raising $658 for his campaign. On March 30, he reported a cash balance of $66.60.
The other Democratic candidate in the contest is Noelle Bivens of Murfreesboro.
U.S. SENATE GOP PRIMARY RACE: SETHI PLANS TOUR
After getting physically knocked off track during April and part of May by the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders, Tennessee’s U.S. Senate race is getting back on course.
Republican Senate hopeful Manny Sethi last week announced he is starting a 95-county tour of the state, holding in-person town hall events.
“From now until Election Day on Aug. 6, I will be visiting every county in Tennessee,” said Sethi, a Nashville trauma surgeon. “I believe the way you campaign is the way you will represent. I will represent every person from Mountain City to Memphis, Turtletown to Tiptonville, and I will be visiting every county to share my vision for this state and country.”
Sethi’s campaign says he will “be visiting every county safely and all events will be in compliance with President [Donald] Trump and Gov. [Bill]
Lee’s guidelines.”
He is one of three major GOP candidates running for the seat held by retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is calling it quits at the end of his third term. Other Republicans are Bill Hagerty, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan who has the full-throated endorsement of his former boss, Trump, and Memphis physician and businessman George Flinn.
HAGERTY APPEARS ON ONE AMERICA NEWS NETWORK
Hagerty, who was recently named by Trump to serve on his “Great American Revival Groups” appeared on One America News Network last week where he discussed those efforts and his Senate candidacy.
“The focus on the economy is one of the big reasons the president has endorsed me to be the next U.S. senator from Tennessee. We need people with a business background; people that understand how the economy works, and the membership of this task force is very much that orientation,” he said.
Hagerty, a businessman and investor who worked on Trump’s 2016 general election campaign and served as U.S. ambassador to Japan before leaving to run for the Senate, was named earlier this month by the president to the “Thought Leaders” Revival Group. Others on the panel include economist Art Laffer.
A former commissioner of economic development, Hagerty has come under criticism from Sethi and Democratic candidate James Mackler.