After winning highly contested election contests during his first three campaigns for Congress, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., has yet to attract any announced opponents for his re-election bid this year and appears headed toward winning a fifth two-year term in the U.S. House.
He possibly could become a subcommittee chairman over congressional appropriations if the Republicans are able to regain control of the U.S. House.
Fleischmann said he has $1.7 million in his campaign war chest and hopes to raise even more and spend some campaign money and his time this year to help elect other GOP members to Congress. Fleischmann helped create the Nooga Political Action Committee two years ago and said he plans to raise money for the fund to help Republicans regain control of the House.
“If things go well and we [Republicans] get back to a majority in the House, I will probably be made what is affectionately known as a ”cardinal,” or a subcommittee chair on the Appropriations Committee,” Fleischmann said last week. “I think I am in a very good position for the people I serve.”
Democrats insist they are not conceding Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district, which spans 11 counties in East Tennessee stretching from Chattanooga to the Kentucky border in Claiborne County.