The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
●TN-02: State Rep. Jimmy Matlock recently went up with a spot ahead of the Aug. 2 GOP primary taking Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett to task for a critical 2005 vote from his time in the state Senate to keep chamber's longtime Democratic leader in charge even though the GOP had just won a one-seat majority.
Campaign ActionThe 15-second commercial doesn't go into much detail about this long-ago incident, though. Instead, a newspaper clipping flashes by saying that Republicans were angry at Burchett for denying them the Senate speaker's position as the narrator also relays that then-state Sen. Burchett voted to put Democrats in charge. He then asks if Burchett would "vote to put Nancy Pelosi in charge, too?"
Matlock also recently rolled out a closing ad starring retiring Rep. Jimmy Duncan. Duncan, who has represented this seat since 1988, tells the audience that Matlock "is one of the finest men I've ever known," and the narrator proclaims that Matlock is a businessman who will stand with Trump.
Burchett and Matlock are two of four noteworthy candidates competing for this safely red Knoxville seat, and while there is no polling to speak of, Roll Call's Simone Pathé writes that insiders believe that they're the frontrunners. Burchett's Knox County base makes up just over 60 percent of this seat, but Duncan's support could be helping Matlock make up ground.
From July 1 to July 13 (which the FEC defines as the pre-primary period), Matlock also outspent Burchett by a wide $203,000 to $88,000 margin. Matlock owns an eponymous tire business as well, and his campaign told Roll Call that they think his company and their ads have helped him in the campaign; one of Matlock's ads even began with a man exclaiming that he's "the tire guy!"
The other two candidates to watch next week are businessman Jason Emert and Tennessee Air National Guard Lt. Col. Ashley Nickloes. Emert, who also serves as chair of the Young Republicans National Federation, spent $102,000 during the pre-primary period. Nickloes, who was deployed in the Middle East until April, spent just $52,000, but a group close to the GOP establishment called the Republican Main Street Partnership has spent $100,000 on ads to support her.