Why won’t he face opponents?
U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah, is an attorney by occupation and thus is trained to defend his position. He speaks on the floor of the U.S. House, he speaks at staged events, he speaks in schools and he speaks in softball media interviews. But why he shies away from open forums and debate-type settings with his opponents remains unclear.
He had apparently agreed to speak at a public forum, where his likely Democratic general election opponent, Jack Allen, also would be in attendance, in Vonore on Thursday. However, his spokesperson Dalton Temple said forum planners were told a month ago he wouldn’t be there. Forum planners then were told a representative would be sent in his stead, but that was canceled in recent days.
Newspaper archives do not reflect Fleischmann at any forum or debate that included his general election opponent Melody Shekari in 2016, Danielle Mitchell in 2018, or Meg Gorman in 2020 or 2022. However, he debated his general election opponent Mary Headrick in both 2012 and 2014 and his primary opponent Weston Wamp in 2014.
Temple also declined to say by phone whether Fleischmann would accept an invitation to other candidate forums.