Lenda SherrellNASHVILLE - Democrat Lenda Sherrell of Monteagle ramped up her 4th Congressional District bid in the second quarter, with a little help from a $100,000 personal loan as well as $78,670 from contributors.
In her Federal Election Commission filing, the retired certified public accountant reported spending $145,045 from April 1 through June 30. She had $133,674 left in cash on hand.
The $100,000 loan brings her total loans so far this campaign cycle to $185,633, according to the filing. Individual contributors gave given a total of $242,103 over the course of the campaign.
Most of the political focus on the 4th District's Aug. 7 primaries has been on the battle between U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., his main GOP challenger Jim Tracy and several other Republican candidates.
But Sherrell has been the lone Democratic candidate in the district, which includes all or parts of 16 counties in East and Middle Tennessee.
And she's been gearing up.
Her expenditures show her maintaining a several-person campaign staff. She also spent some $15,000 with 270 Strategies, a political consulting firm whose founding partners include Jeremy Bird.
As national field director in President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, Bird helped create and implement the Obama campaign's grass-roots organizing and supporter identification model.
Sherrell was a volunteer in Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.
Last month, she held a Nashville fundraiser with the support of former Gov. Phil Bredesen, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., who lost to DesJarlais in 2010.
Her latest individual contributors include Nashville investor Richard Eskind ($500), Alison Mills of Lookout Mountain, Ga. ($2,600), long-time Bredesen ally Byron Traugher ($500) and former state Sen. Jim Lewis, D-South Pittsburg ($500).