State Sen. Watson still weighing bid for U.S. Rep. Fleischmann's congressional seat

State Sen. Bo Watson is interviewed by editors during a meeting at the Times Free Press.
State Sen. Bo Watson is interviewed by editors during a meeting at the Times Free Press.

Despite a $370,000 fundraising effort last week by U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, state Sen. Bo Watson says he's still weighing the possibility of running against the third-term incumbent Republican in the 2016 primary for Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District.

"I haven't decided yet. ... People talk to me about the seat and, among other things, my experience in state government and my being able to relieve some of the burdens the federal government puts on the states," Watson said.

Last week, Fleischmann announced the largest fundraising effort in his political career at a private event at the Mountain City Club in Chattanooga. And U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy joined the Ooltewah lawyer to drum up support.

After the event, Fleischmann is estimated to have more than $500,000 to start the campaign.

"This time, I am making sure we have the financial wherewithal early, so we can defend any primary challenge," Fleischmann said last week. "I'd prefer to have no primary challenger, but I'll be ready."

Watson said Tuesday he hadn't started raising money yet.

photo Rep. Chuck Fleischmann speaks at the Times Free Press in this file photo.

And there's no doubt, money talks.

Federal Election Commission reports show Fleischmann is the only candidate active in the 2016 House District 3 cycle who reported raising money in the first three months of 2015.

However, FEC filings also show Fleischmann's early start might have been a bit premature. His campaign arm, Chuck Fleischmann for Congress Committee, started raising and spending money for the 2016 election before it filed notification that Fleischmann would run again.

The FEC on Thursday asked that Fleischmann disavow the fundraising or have the committee file a candidacy statement within 35 days, according to an FEC filing.

Campaign spokesman Tyler Threadgill said the paperwork issue will be dealt with.

"The treasurer has been made aware of the need to file the statement of candidacy and will do so within the time frame to remain compliant," Threadgill said.

Watson said Fleischmann's fundraising wasn't playing into his decision.

"I think Chuck had a fundraiser to demonstrate he could raise the funds," Watson said.

The most recent state campaign reports show Watson ended 2014 with $282,828 in the bank. But state campaign funds can't be used in a federal election.

And FEC reports show Fleischmann has $265,808 in outstanding campaign debts to pay off. But $211,807 of that figure is made up of two personal loans Fleischmann made to his own campaign. The remaining $54,001 is owed to various strategy groups, FEC reports show.

The next quarterly campaign finance filing deadline is July 15.

Vanderbilt political science professor Bruce Oppenheimer said Fleischmann's early showing could scare people off. And anyone serious about challenging him should have a nugget in the bank by the first of the year, he said.

However, with few other races in the 2016 cycle, there could be lots of political money to go around, Oppenheimer said.

"The good news is, you can raise money. ... There's no other game in town. On the other hand, you are likely to have low turnout in the primary. So that always speaks in favor of having depth of support as opposed to breadth of support," he said.

Core voters will vote in a small-ticket primary, where less enthusiastic voters might not, Oppenheimer said.

Fleischmann won his primary last year by only a 1 percent margin against then-27-year-old Republican challenger Weston Wamp, son of former Rep. Zach Wamp. It was a head-to-head race. That election, which included U.S. Senate primaries and a slew of statewide races, brought 90,000 voters to the polls.

And Fleischmann had a tight three-way primary in 2012, against Weston Wamp and former dairy executive Scottie Mayfield. Fleischmann pulled together 39 percent of the vote, Mayfield got 31 percent and Wamp gathered 29 percent. In that race, only 77,000 voters cast votes.

Fleischmann's debut primary race in 2010 included five other Republicans.

Contact staff writer Louie Brogdon at lbrogdon@timesfreepress.com, @glbrogdoniv on Twitter or at 423-757-6481.

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