Campaign spending gap widens in Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District

photo Election deputy Steve Gaston directs early voters Ed and Sandra Vance on how to use the Image Cast Precinct machine after making their choices Wednesday on the first day of early voting at the Hamilton County Election Commission off Amnicola Highway.
photo Chuck Fleischmann and Mary Headrick are seen in this composite photo.

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann has out-spent and out-raised his Democratic opponent, Mary Headrick. But Headrick says money isn't everything, and she hopes people can change more minds than campaign dollars in Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District.

Campaigns for federal candidates filed October quarterly reports Wednesday ahead of the Nov. 4 general election to show how much money they had raised and spent between July 1 and Sept. 30.

Neither Fleischmann's nor Headrick's campaigns had filed with the Federal Election Commission by press time Wednesday, but the campaigns provided numbers to the Times Free Press. The filing deadline was 11:59 p.m.

Fleischmann's campaign raised $243,075 this quarter, according to a news release. And after spending nearly $500,000, the Ooltewah Republican has $92,348 ahead of the general election.

Campaign spokesman Brian O'Shaughnessy said Fleischmann's team was pleased with the response from supporters.

"We are proud to have raised $243,075 this quarter, and thank all those who generously contributed to the Chuck Fleischmann for Congress campaign," O'Shaughnessy said. "These contributions reflect an outstanding amount of support and confidence behind our congressman."

Meanwhile, the Headrick campaign is working with smaller numbers -- but still raising and spending.

Headrick's camp started the quarter with $45,455 and raised another $66,474, according to an estimate from the campaign Wednesday.

Headrick said the numbers were estimates, because her treasurer was still compiling the reports and Headrick had not decided how much would be reimbursed this quarter.

After spending $45,983 -- without reimbursements -- Headrick had $65,936 in the bank Wednesday. She said that number could be closer to $55,000 by the time the report was filed.

But Headrick was not disheartened by the money gap.

"He's still got us 10-to-1 on money, but what he doesn't have is 10-to-1 on volunteers. So we will see if grassroots can really cause a change," Headrick said.

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Campaigns for Tennessee's 4th District U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais and Democratic opponent Lenda Sherrell did not respond to requests for finance numbers Wednesday.

And Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander and his Democratic challenger, Gordon Ball, file their reports with the Clerk of the Senate. Those reports were not available.

The 3rd quarter filing is the penultimate financial report candidates share before election day. The final pre-general report is due Oct. 23 and will cover the first 15 days in October.

Contact staff writer Louie Brogdon at lbrogdon@timesfreepress.com, @glbrogdoniv on Twitter or at 423-757-6481.

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