DesJarlais Attacks Are ‘Not Who I Am,’ Davis Says

Former Tennessee Congressman Lincoln Davis regrets using ads about Republican Scott DesJarlais’s divorce. Davis was trying to hold onto his seat in Congress two years ago. Now he wants to distance himself from new attacks on DesJarlais, which tear at the doctor for telling a patient he slept with to get an abortion.

The freshman DesJarlais is facing a challenge this fall from Democrat Eric Stewart, whom Davis says he supports. When asked why he didn’t pursue the line of attack Stewart is using now, Davis pointed to ads his campaign did run two years ago, about DesJarlais intimidating his ex-wife with a gun.

“To be honest with you, during my campaign we had campaign staff and others who advised me to use a TV ad that I regret using. That’s not who I am. Ever since those ads went up… It was true. It’s in the public record, it’s information that’s available to anybody who wants to go look at it. The information is there. But I regret using those ads. I don’t like TV ads like that.”

Davis also says he’s not the one who planted the new attack against DesJarlais, which is now featured in an ad by a pro-Democrat political action committee. The group House Majority PAC is paying more than a $100 thousand to run the attack ad in both Nashville and Chattanooga.