Starrett has spent $700,000 of his own money in race against DesJarlais

Grant Starrett and Scott DesJarlais are pictured in this composite photo.

NASHVILLE - In the first two weeks of July, Republican challenger Grant Starrett expanded mail and media assault on U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais in the state's 4th Congressional District primary.

A pre-primary disclosure form Starrett filed Saturday with the Federal Election Commission for July 1-15 showed he spent $190,000 on a TV and radio ad blitz and direct mail, and has spent $918,591 overall to date in the 16-county race.

DesJarlais' pre-primary disclosure was not available on the FEC website as of Saturday evening. The disclosures were due by midnight.

This mailer from GOP challenger Grant Starrett is his latest political mail attack on U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais

This mailer from GOP challenger Grant Starrett is his latest political mail attack on U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais

Meanwhile, a separate 48-hour disclosure Starrett filed last week showed the the 28-year-old attorney from Murfreesboro loaned his campaign another $200,000.

To date, Starrett has loaned his campaign $676,561. Combined with $23,400 Starrett gave his campaign as an in-kind contribution, his total personal stake in the contest is now $699,961. It accounts for almost half of the $1.49 million he's taken in.

As of July 15, Starrett had $377,124.48 in cash on hand, according to the pre-primary disclosure. But that doesn't include the $200,000 loan of July 18.

In his pre-primary disclosure, Starrett reported $584 in contributions.

DesJarlais' latest available report, a second-quarter accounting filed July 15, showed he raised $63,414 from April 1 to June 30, spent $86,393 and had $323,000 in cash.

Since the 2016 election cycle began, DesJarlais has raised $548,160 in contributions, made no loans and reported spending $265,017.

Starrett's latest expenditures included $49,130 for "placed media" such as TV and radio ads, nearly $44,000 for printing and design services for direct mail, $15,000 for marketing consulting, $5,200 on Facebook ads and $1,000 for Google ads.

He also continues to spend on fielding a small army of workers in the massive district, which stretches from Cleveland in Bradley County west to Murfreesboro before dipping southwest and ending in Columbia, Tenn.