Hagerty goes negative on Sethi over $50 donation in 2008
U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty is attacking GOP rival in a new TV ad over a $50 donation made a dozen years ago. The spot running in West Tennessee says Sethi gave to an organization that is directing money to violent protesters around the country.
“Sethi has donated to the organization that has bankrolled these rioters, aiding liberal extremists,” Joseph James, a veteran from Hendersonville, says in the spot. “Tennessee deserves a senator who respects our sacrifices and honors our flag. That is why I support Bill Hagerty. ”
The organization in question is ActBlue, an online fundraiser for liberal candidates and causes. ActBlue has seen a flood of donations pour in amid the Black Lives Matter protests around the country, according to the New York Times.
Sethi gave $50 through the group in 2008 to support Virginia congressional candidate Tom Perriello, a Democrat who narrowly defeated inclubmetn Republican Rep. Virgil Goode. Sethi has since made $33,584 in GOP contributions, including to Rick Perry, Bob Corker, Marsha Blackburn, Cindy Hyde-Smith, and Donald Trump.
So how long will be it be until the Sethi camp hits back with a spot about Hagerty once giving $1,000 to Al Gore?
UPDATE: Looks like the Sethi campaign was ready for attack ads:
UPDATE II: Here’s a response from the Hagerty campaign:
Of course, Bill worked to defeat Barack Obama in 2012, unlike Massachusetts Manny Sethi who applied to be in the Obama Biden White House. Manny Sethi’s Never Trumpers have been attacking Bill since the day President Trump endorsed and announced his run for Senate. President Trump looked at all the candidates in this race, and he endorsed Bill because he trusts Bill to stand with him to protect conservative values, get our economy going again, hold China accountable, and stand up for life.
Sethi was a finalist for a prestigious White House Fellowship in 2009, when Obama was president. The fellowships are “awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis,” according to the White House. Hagerty was a White House fellow in 1991, when Republican George H.W. Bush was president.
Company tweet causes tempest in Tennessee Senate race
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty speaks at Nashville event on Dec. 3, 2019. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty has resigned from the board of R.J. O’Brien & Associates over social media posts sent by the futures brokerage firm voicing support for the African American community and Black Lives Matter.
The National Pulse, a project of the American Principles Project, first wrote about Hagerty’s role with the company based on a financial disclosure the candidate filed with the Senate on Friday.
The company said in a May 31 tweet (since deleted):
R.J. O’Brien stands proudly with the African American Community in support of EQUALITY & PEACE. #BLACKLIVESMATTER
Rival Republican candidate Manny Sethi’s campaign quickly seized on the National Pulse item:
Let me get this straight – At the exact same time @BillHagertyTN is running TV ads claiming he’ll stand up to Black Lives Matter, his company is giving millions to BLM. #fraudhttps://t.co/MDgw0Q41sI
— Dr. Manny For Senate (@DrMannySenate) July 11, 2020
The Breitbart website quickly moved to publish Hagerty’s letter of resignation to R.J. O’Brien CEO Gerald Corcoran:
I cannot in good conscience remain affiliated in any way with the promotion of a radical political movement that seeks to use this moment to overthrow the government and usher in Marxism. This movement wants to rip apart the fabric of our country and destroy many aspects of what makes America exceptional. I vehemently oppose their calls for violence and relentless march towards socialism. Please accept this as my resignation from R.J. O’Brien effective immediately.
Unsurprisingly, the Sethi camp wasn’t impressed, issuing the following statement:
This is simple: Bill Hagerty has been making money from a company giving money to Black Lives Matter, while his campaign has been spending millions of dollars pretending to oppose Black Lives Matter. He only resigned once he was caught. He’s a hypocrite and a fraud, just like his buddy Mitt Romney.
Internal polls give contrasting views of GOP Senate contest
Internal polling by Republican candidates Bill Hagerty and Manny Sethi show a stark contrast in the state of play in the U.S. Senate race.
The poll by the Hagerty campaign shows the former U.S. ambassador with a wide lead, while the survey by the Sethi camp has the Vanderbilt surgeon narrowly behind with 11 days remaining until early voting.
The Hagerty poll has him with 45%, compared with 29% for Sethi, and 5% for George Flinn.
Sethi’s poll has Hagerty with 33%, Sethi with 31%, and Flinn with 6%.
The Sethi campaign said its polling number have improved dramatically since early June, when he was down 27% to 11%. The poll of 800 likely Republican voters was conducted by Victory Phones between June 30 and July 1. The margin of error is placed a plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
The same pollster was used by Bill Lee’s successful gubernatorial campaign in 2018, coming within 2 percentage points of the outcome of that primary.
The Hagerty poll of 651 likely Republican primary voters was conducted by the Tarrance Group between June 28 and June 30. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The Hargery survey found double-digit leads among primary voters in the Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis, and Tri-Cities media markets and more than 50% those who have voted in four of the last four primaries.
Top TNJ: On the Hill posts of 2020 so far
A man scrubs graffiti off of a building following protests in downtown Nashville on June 1, 2020. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
As we hit the halfway mark of a tumultuous year, here is a look at the the most popular posts on the TNJ: On the Hill blog so far (again with a hat tip to our friends at the Nashville Post, from whom we have stolen the idea on more than one occasion).
1. Sethi on the air with new ad hitting ‘Leftwing Lockdown.‘
June 11: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Manny Sethi has a new TV ad out in which he goes after what his campaign is calling liberals’ double standard on the coronavirus lockdown.
2. So what’s essential? A look at Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order.
March 30: Here are details about which businesses are exempted by Gov. Bill Lee’s order for non-essential operations to shut down to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. It’s a long list, ranging from marinas to dry cleaners. It also includes “any other business or organization that operates at all times with ten or fewer persons accessing the premises.”
3. Give me refills or give me death? Protest organizer laments need to pay for extra iced tea.
April 20: According to The Tennessean’s Natalie Allison, a top lament of an anti-lockdown protest organizer at the state Capitol is that he can’t get free refills for his iced tea under social distancing rules.
A sign outside the Pink Cadillac drive-in movie theater in Centerville advertises church services on May 3, 2020. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
4. Lee announces end of stay-at-home order for 89 of 95 counties.
April 20: Gov. Bill Lee has announced stay-at-home orders will expire next week in all but six of Tennessee’s 95 counties. The counties that will continue to be covered by local bans on nonessential business are Shelby, Davidson, Knox, Hamilton, Madison, and Sullivan.
5. Candidate blasting China for COVID-19 married to man convicted of mislabeling drugs from … China.
May 11: Kingsport pharmacist Diana Harshbarger has been making a splash in Tennessee’s open 1st Congress District race by self-funding a series of television commercials. One of her latest spots attacks China for the coronavirus pandemic. Left unsaid is that Harshbarger’s husband pleaded guilty to federal charges of distributing misbranded drugs from China in 2013.
6. From urging to requiring: Lee makes stay-at-home mandatory.
April 2: Gov. Bill Lee is ramping up his stay-at-home directive, moving from urging people to avoid all non essential activities to requiring it. The move follows an uptick in traffic and movement around the state.
7. Lee orders statewide ban on gatherings of more than 10 and on dine-in restaurants, bars.
March 22. Gov. Bill Lee has issued a statewide ban on gatherings of more than 10 people and ordered all restaurants be limited only to drive-thru or takeout service.
The doors of the state Capitol were closed to the public on March 16, 2020. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
8. Lee extends state of emergency until Aug. 29.
June 29: Gov. Bill Lee is extending Tennessee’s state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic until Aug. 29.
9. Election officials instructed not to immediately comply with judge’s order on absentee ballots.
June 5: A Nashville judge has ordered the state to start issuing absentee ballots to any registered voter who requests one, but State Election Coordinator Mark Goins is telling local officials not to immediately comply.
10. Should toppled Carmack statue be repaired at Tennessee Capitol?
June 1: Protesters over the weekend tore down the statue of Edward Ward Carmack, a newspaper editor and U.S. Senator who was gunned down in the streets of Nashville in 1908. Carmack was a notorious segregationist, though it’s unclear whether the demonstrators specifically targeted the monument (a historical marker commemorating Nashville’s lunch counter sit-ins in 1960 was also destroyed).
State troopers guard the toppled statue of Edward Ward Carmack outside the state Capitol on May 31, 2020. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)
Current, former Chattanooga congressmen make competing U.S. Senate endorsements
A Chattanooga congressman and his predecessor are making competing endorsements in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. Former Rep. Zach Wamp is giving the nod to Vanderbilt surgeon Manny Sethi, while current Rep. Chuck Fleischmann is getting behind Bill Hagerty.
Wamp joined fellow former Rep. Ed Bryant (R-Jackson) in endorsing Sethi:
“Dr. Manny is the real deal, the real conservative, and the right choice for Tennessee. He shares our Tennessee values: faith, family, and freedom.” – Zach Wamp pic.twitter.com/q5aPX5X5ZS
— Dr. Manny For Senate (@DrMannySenate) June 24, 2020
Fleischmann won the 3rd Congressional District seat when Wamp gave it up to run for governor in 2010. Wamp had first been elected to the seat in 1994.
I’m proud to join President @realDonaldTrump in support of my good friend @BillHagertyTN for U.S. Senate. Bill is the trustworthy conservative businessman we need in the Senate to help get our economy going again & get Tennesseans back to work.https://t.co/DJKF8MvNrG
— Chuck Fleischmann (@chuck4congress) June 24, 2020
Wamp endorsed Bill Lee in the 2018 gubernatorial primary, giving a boost to the Franklin businessman’s campaing. There was a personal backstory to that endorsement, as political operative Chip Saltsman was advising rival Republican Randy Boyd’s campaign. Saltsman had also run Fleischmann’s successful campaigns against Weston Wamp, the congressman’s son, in 2012 and 2014.
PAC funded by Sethi finance chairman hits Hagerty as ‘another liberal’
A political action committee calling itself the Conservative Outsiders’ PAC is running a series of videos attacking Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty as having “extreme ties to the most liberal elements of the Republican party,” ranging from Mitt Romney to Lamar Alexander.
“Why would we want another liberal like Bill Hagerty representing Tennessee,” the narrator says in the spot.
According to Federal Election Commission filings, the PAC has received only one donation: $100,000 from David Ingram, rival Republican candidate Manny Sethi’s state finance chairman.
Ingram served as treasurer to former House Speaker Beth Harwell’s gubernatorial in 2018 and as finance chairman for 2002 Republican gubernatorial nominee Van Hilleary’s campaign. His brother John, the billionaire chairman of Ingram Industries, has given the maximum personal donation of $5,600 to Hagerty. John Ingram is the owner of the Major League Soccer franchise Hagerty helped land in Nashville.
Here’s what the Hagerty campaign had to say in response:
Bill Hagerty has earned President Trump’s ‘complete and total’ endorsement, because the President knows he will be ‘strong on crime, borders and our Second Amendment.’ President Trump trusts Bill and personally asked him to serve on the American Revival Group where he is working to hold China accountable for the Wuhan virus and get our economy going again.
Tom Cotton endorses Hagerty in U.S. Senate race
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas is endorsing Republican Bill Hagerty in the Tennessee Senate race.
Cotton, like Hagerty, was a proponent of calling in active-duty military troops to put down rioting during national protests over police brutality. Manny Sethi, one of Hagerty’s main rivals for the GOP nomination, said the National Guard was better equipped for the task.
The publication of a Cotton op-ed in the New York Times titled “Send in the Troops” led the to resignation of the paper’s editorial page editor.
Proud to join @realDonaldTrump in endorsing @BillHagertyTN for US Senate.
Bill is a strong conservative who will take on China, support law enforcement & stand up for our our military.
He's a leader we need in the Senate. #TNSenhttps://t.co/qL6rNEBF5R
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 11, 2020
“Senator Cotton is a true conservative leader, and there are a lot of issues we see eye-to-eye on: namely, China,” Hagerty said ina release. “Senator Cotton has been leading the way on calling out the Communist Chinese Party for what it is – an authoritarian regime that has lied repeatedly to the world about the Wuhan virus. I’m honored and humbled to have Senator Cotton’s support, and I look forward to working with him to protect our conservative values in the Senate.”
Sethi on the air with new ad hitting ‘Leftwing Lockdown’
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Manny Sethi has a new TV ad out in which he goes after what his campaign is calling liberals’ double standard on the coronavirus lockdown.
Here’s the text of the ad:
Across America, opening a business is a crime. Burning a business is not? Dinner with neighbors gets you arrested. Beating neighbors does not? Church with too many people is a crime. Thousands of people protesting is not? Got a problem with any of that? You’re a racist! And you want to kill Grandma. Had enough? Me too. That’s why I’m running. Send me to the Senate. I’m Dr. Manny Sethi, and I approve this message.
Senate candidates take contrasting stands on use of military to put down protests
In one of the starkest contrasts of the U.S. Senate race so far, Manny Sethi disagreed with rival Republican Bill Hagerty about whether the active-duty military should have a role in responding to civil unrest around the country.
Hagerty early last week called on President Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to crack down on violence and “domestic terrorism.” The Sethi campaign, however, told The Tennessee Journal, that the National Guard was better suited for the role.
Here’s the statement from Sethi campaign manager Chris Devaney:
Manny appreciates President Trump’s leadership, which is why he doesn’t think we need the 101st Airborne in this. Our U.S. military exists to kill bad guys, not to do police work. Our National Guard is more than capable of dealing with these rioters and looters, upholding the rule of law, and busting some heads if need be, to protect our country.
Trump last week week criticized governors for being “weak” and failing to “dominate the streets.” He floated the idea of using the Insurrection Act to send the military into states where governors hadn’t called in the National Guard, but ultimately didn’t take that step.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee authorized the Guard to intervene when Nashville protesters clashed with police and set fire to the Metro Courthouse. The Guard was also called in to augment security at the state Capitol, though the governor heaped praise on soldiers for laying down their shields during a peaceful protest.
The president over the weekend ordered Guard units to start returning to their home states “now that everything is under perfect control.”
Rand Paul endorses Sethi in Tennessee U.S. Senate race
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is endorsing Manny Sethi’s bis for the Republican nomination to succeed Sen. Lamar Alexander.
“Tennessee deserves a true conservative who supports President Trump, is pro-liberty, and will fight out-of-control federal spending,” Paul said in a release. “I believe Dr. Manny is the right choice, like me, he’s a physician, not another politician. We need more outsiders in Washington, and I’m proud to endorse him today.”
Sethi’s rivals for the nomination include former Ambassador Bill Hagerty and Memphis broadcaster George Flinn.
