NASHVILLE – The subject of a scathing attorney general’s report on sexual harassment allegations lost his Republican primary for the Tennessee House on Thursday.
Rep. Jeremy Durham had suspended his campaign after the report outlined allegations of improper sexual contact with 22 women but had denied any wrongdoing and did not drop out of the race. Durham was defeated by former Army Col. Sam Whitson.
“It was hard convincing people we could do this,” Whitson told The Tennessean newspaper. “My wife and I gave each other $1,000 and said, ‘Here, this is what we’re going to campaign with,’ when Durham had over $200,000. People said we were wasting our time, that he couldn’t be beat.”
Other legislative races that have drawn interest this campaign season:
HOUSE DISTRICT 95: Despite outspending his nearest rival by nearly $100,000 during the campaign, Republican Rep. Curry Todd lost his primary to Mark Lovell. Todd was jailed this week for failing to show up for questioning about video showing him removing his opponents’ campaign signs, but Lovell bailed him out of jail. Todd is a retired Memphis police officer who pleaded guilty after a 2011 arrest for drunken driving with a loaded handgun in his car.