U.S. Senate candidate Manny Sethi on Monday invited opponent Bill Hagerty to join him for a public debate on major issues.
Sethi said this in an emailed statement to the media and on his campaign’s Facebook page.
“Early voting has begun, and voters want to hear directly from Ambassador Hagerty and myself, discussing our differences,” Sethi said.
“It’s simple, it’s time for Ambassador Hagerty to debate. This is a tight race, and with COVID limiting voter interactions for the last few months, most folks haven’t been able to hear from the candidates directly. This is a great way to allow that to happen, so they can make an educated and informed choice. I look forward to debating him soon.”
Campaign Chair Chris Devaney, meanwhile, said Hagerty “should stop hiding behind his Super PAC’s false attack ads and face Dr. Sethi like a man.”
Hagerty campaign spokeswoman Abigail Sigler emailed the following statement to The Tennessee Star Monday:
With just 16 days to go until election day, our focus is sharing Bill’s positive conservative message with actual Tennessee voters – not partaking in political stunts with a desperate candidate who should be running in the Democrat Primary.
As The Tennessee Star reported last week, Hagerty on Friday described opponent Manny Sethi as a less than true conservative who, on one occasion, donated to ActBlue.
ActBlue, according to its website, assists leftist causes.
Hagerty said this after he arrived at the Bellevue Library to vote early for the primary election.
Hagerty said he is “the true conservative that is running for office” who worked to elect U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016.
“I volunteered full-time for six months when nobody else was supporting President Trump, certainly not Manny Sethi. He didn’t lift a finger. He didn’t donate a dime back in 2016 to help President Trump get elected,” Hagerty said. “Now that it’s politically convenient, he can fake himself into a conservative position and he can act like he supports President Trump today but not when it was tough. Not back in 2016 when we had to get elected. Tennesseans need to know that I am the only true conservative in this race.”
Hagerty continued:
You have a person in Manny Sethi who has donated to ActBlue. ActBlue funds Black Lives Matter and supports Nancy Pelosi trying to take down Republicans across this nation. They support tearing down our statues, defunding and dismantling the police, and burning our flag. I couldn’t imagine a conservative Tennessean donating one penny to ActBlue, but Manny Sethi did.
Federal Election Commission filings show that Sethi donated to ActBlue in April 2008. Specifically, Sethi donated $50 to Democrat Congressional candidate Tom Peirrelo in 2008 through ActBlue. Perriello won, and served a single term. In 2018 Perriello was hired by George Soros’s Open Society Foundation.
Sethi Campaign Manager Forrest Barnwell-Hagemeyer acknowledged that Sethi donated to the group.
But Barnwell-Hagemeyer said Hagerty also donated to people whom conservatives don’t hold in high regard.
“Bill Hagerty is attacking Dr. Manny Sethi for giving $50 to a family friend, meanwhile Hagerty gave $100,000 to Mitt Romney, donated to Al Gore, and Hagerty’s company made millions off Common Core,” Barnwell-Hagemeyer said to The Tennessee Star in an email.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
“I volunteered full-time for six months when nobody else was supporting President Trump…” Who’s “fact checking” these statements? When was this 6 month fulltime “volunteer” position, after he ditched Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio? What was he knocking doors for Trump? Handing out meals to the homeless people in Nashville? Or was it maybe tutoring inner city kids? How come we’ve NEVER seen photos of him on Facebook or anyplace else, other than in a suit and tie?
Sounds to me like Wild Bill Hagerty is as delusional as Hidin’ Joe Biden!
This is something I would like to see, certainly Hagerty can make some time for something as important as this.