NASHVILLE – Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais held a better than 7-to-1 cash advantage over Democratic challenger Eric Stewart as of Sept. 30 and is using it to dominate the television airwaves in their 4th Congressional District contest.
DesJarlais’ campaign declared Tuesday that Stewart is “running on fumes” with campaign manager Brandon Lewis saying, “Eric Stewart is a strong supporter of Barack Obama, a proponent of Obamacare and believes in the liberal borrow and spend policies that have exploded our national debt and ruined our economy.”
But Stewart campaign manager Kevin Teets retorted the campaign has seen a major turnaround since last week. That was when it was revealed that DesJarlais once encouraged a woman with whom he had had a relationship to get an abortion.
“We’ve seen a huge momentum in involvement, donations and support,” Stewart campaign manager Kevin Teets said Tuesday.
DesJarlais, a Jasper physician who touts his opposition to abortion, has acknowledged the 2000 transcript of the recorded conversation with the woman is genuine.