Blackburn Puts Bredesen on Defensive in Second Debate Between Senate Candidates

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) put former Gov. Phil Bredesen on the defensive Wednesday night at the second debate between the two candidates for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN).

Blackburn started out strong at the debate held in Knoxville at the University of Tennessee’s Howard Baker Center, and Bredesen never recovered.

“Sparks flew in Knoxville Wednesday night as Democrat Phil Bredesen and his Republican opponent Marsha Blackburn squared off in their final debate leading up to November’s mid-term election,” NewsChannel 5 reported:

The candidates traded barbs over everything from immigration, to education, and to the recent battle to appointment Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme court.

When pressed on the issue, Bredesen once against reaffirmed his position that despite running as a Democrat he would’ve voted to confirm Kavanaugh to the country’s highest court.

“I wanted to take my time with this, the obligation of a Senator is to consider all the facts,” he then went on to address the sexual assault allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, “All things being equal I did not think those allegations rose to the level of being disqualified from the Supreme Court.”

Blackburn quickly seized on the opportunity to spar with her opponent, “Tennesseans wanted to see Kavanaugh confirmed, if Hillary had been President you would not have a Judge Kavanaugh.”

Blackburn then accused Bredesen of trying to cover up a case of sexual assault that occured with one of the former Governor’s female staffers while he was in office.

 

Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden pointed out after the debate that Blackburn was the clear winner.

“Marsha Blackburn showed that she will stand with Tennesseans by securing the border, confirming constitutionalist judges, and protecting our Second Amendment rights,” Golden said.

“Democrat Phil Bredesen showed what Tennesseans are coming to see: he won’t represent Tennessee values in the U.S. Senate. If elected, Phil Bredesen would put Chuck Schumer and national Democrats in charge and stop President Trump’s agenda at every turn. A vote for Marsha is a vote for Tennesseans, a vote for Phil is a vote for national Democrats and their obstructionist agenda,” he added.

Minutes after the debate ended, Project Veritas Action released an explosive undercover video in which Bredesen campaign workers said that the former governor lied when he said he would have voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, as The Tennessee Star reported late Wednesday night:

Campaign workers at Democrat Phil Bredesen’s campaign offices in Nashville say he was lying when he said on Friday that he would vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court if he were a member of the U.S. Senate, as revealed in an undercover video on Wednesday.

“It’s a political move,” Bredesen campaign field organizer Maria Amalla said of Bredesen’s Friday announcement in the video released late Wednesday by Project Veritas Action.

“So he’s trying to make up those points,” she added.

“Seventy-four percent of Tennesseans wanted to see Kavanaugh confirmed. So, I, like, this isn’t like, what is it ? … messaging or anything. But like, logically, based on those numbers and what I’ve seen is that he had already known that that gap between him and her has grown more. And so, he thought that, like by coming out in support [of confirming Kavanaugh] that it would get more Republicans on his side. He wasn’t doing as well in the rural parts. And so, what he’s banking on is for people who are, like, Democrats and stuff, to, like, still come out and vote,” Amalla continued.