Sohn: Fleischmann's primary one-sided, but wait until fall

Dr. Danielle Mitchell stands in her North Access Road office at the Chattanooga Sports Institute Center for Health in 2015. A critic of insurance companies, she set up a membership model for patients. She is a Democratic candidate for Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District.
Dr. Danielle Mitchell stands in her North Access Road office at the Chattanooga Sports Institute Center for Health in 2015. A critic of insurance companies, she set up a membership model for patients. She is a Democratic candidate for Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District.

The race for Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District is quite one-sided at the moment.

Four-term incumbent Chuck Fleischmann faces three challengers: Jeremy Massengale, Harold E. Shevlin and William "Bill" Estill Spurlock Sr.

On the Democratic ballot, challenger Danielle Mitchell, a physician with a strong personal story, stands alone to take on Fleischmann in November.

Of Fleischmann's opponents, the most noteworthy is Spurlock, 60, who grew up on Lookout Mountain and now lives in Chattanooga.

Spurlock says he's done everything from shoveling out elevator shafts to working as a pharmaceutical representative to soldiering in Afghanistan and serving as a military adviser in Romania. He says he is a conservative but with a somewhat moderate bent.

He is greatly concerned with the national debt, and would have opposed President Donald Trump's tax reduction legislation.

In all likelihood, Fleischmann's name recognition will carry him to victory.

But watch for any chance to learn about, see and meet Dr. Danielle Mitchell.

She grew up poor in a family that regularly had to depend on government resources to survive. By the time she was 12, she had attended six different elementary schools "because my family was evicted from house after house or we had to move for work."

She's had her own medical emergencies and now owns and operates a local clinic that serves nearly 1,300 patients - with and without insurance. To save, she mops and cleans the clinic herself. Although she advocates a "no labels" political landscape, we think she exemplifies everything positive about the words hard-working, true conservative, independent, progressive and Democrat.

November should be interesting.

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