A Democrat in Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District announced today he’d take on Republican freshman Scott DesJarlais, who was elected to Congress last year.
DesJarlais surprised many political watchers when he upset incumbent Lincoln Davis of Pall Mall, a popular and conservative Democrat who had served four terms.
State Senator Eric Stewart of Franklin County says voters were too quick to give up on Democrats.
“I think there’s some buyers remorse out there particularly in this district. When one of the first votes that’s cast is a vote to basically end Medicare as we know it, I think that makes a big difference to a lot of seniors across this district.”
Rep. DesJarlais did vote for a budget bill that would have converted Medicare into a voucher program. But he says it was a vote to “preserve” the health insurance program, which he argues is going bankrupt.
Stewart’s campaign announcement reads a lot like Desjarlais’s from two years ago, saying all people see from Washington is “political posturing and gridlock.”