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Davis blames loss to Roe in Republican primary on Democratic crossovers
Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. David Davis said this morning that crossover Democrats voting in the 1st Congressional District Republican Primary contributed to his narrow defeat against GOP challenger Phil Roe.
“We believe there was a lot of Democrat switchover vote,” Davis said. “It is legal in the state of Tennessee for Democrats to go switch their allegiance in a primary. From what we saw around the polling places yesterday, we saw people with (Democrat state Rep.) Nathan Vaughn (of Kingsport) and Phil Roe campaign literature together. I think we won the Republican Primary with Republican Primary voters yesterday. I think he ultimately won the election with Democrat switchover vote.”
According to the Tennessee Division of Elections, Roe received 25,918 votes to Davis’ 25,458 votes.
Davis confirmed his campaign internal polling showed him with a 10-point lead earlier this week.
Davis’ campaign sent out an e-mail Wednesday asking supporters to look out for voter fraud, but Davis didn’t mention if any fraud was detected.
He also didn’t say if he will seek a recount.
“I really don’t know,” Davis said. “We’re going to take a look at it and see what the numbers bear out. It’s just too early to tell what we’re going to do. I feel blessed to have represented the people of East Tennessee and may have the opportunity to do that again. We’ll just wait and see what the numbers show.
“If Phil Roe has won the race I wish him the best and we’ll see how he represents the people of East Tennessee.”
Davis also indicated he hasn’t called Roe to concede the bitter primary race, which featured negative TV ads on both sides.
“I think we did exactly what we needed to do. I think we ran a good race,” Davis said. “When you have someone come out and say you’re taking bribes, basically, which would be illegal, you have to respond. I wish it would have been a much more positive race, but (Roe) chose differently.”
Two years ago, the Tennessee Republican Party (TRP) Primary Board unanimously voted to deny 1st Congressional District GOP primary runner-up Richard Venable’s request for a recount in his 576-vote loss to Davis.
Thirty-eight members on the TRP’s 66-member state executive committee, which serves as the primary board, acted quickly to turn away Venable’s request in late August 2006.
In a prepared release issued early this morning, Roe called for unity.
Roe also indicated he was grateful for Davis’ service in Congress and Davis’ previous career in the Tennessee state House.
“I look forward to working with him,” Roe said of Davis.
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Re: "From what we saw around the polling places yesterday, we saw people with (Democrat state Rep.) Nathan Vaughn (of Kingsport) and Phil Roe campaign literature together." That's classic, Rep. Davis. So that's your proof -- voters holding Nathan Vaughn literature? Are you that out of touch? Do you really think that no Republicans support Nathan Vaughn? Apparently when Rep. Vaughn was first elected, most or all the Repubs stayed home on election day. Oh, and by the way, should you run for office again, you may want to consider contacting Democrats when you take a poll regarding your approval rating, unlike your stunt of polling only Republican voters in our district back in December which showed you having a 70% approval rating.
Personally i wish thier were more Dems in Tenn,then maybe we could get rid of Rep.'s and straighten out Tenn. for good.This state has been red long enough.Time to put some true BLUE color in it.Then we wouldn't have this bickering.Go Obama for president.
Mr Davis thought he would be like jimmy. Not has worry about his seat. It not the good old days where you get in office and you stay in office to you die. Davis did not do that good when he was in state office. The party offical gave him a chance and they did not want him in office any more.
It would be nice if the other party got the job.
Since there's no real Democratic opposition Roe is the presumably annointed new Congressman here. Roe skillfully painted Davis is a ham handed oily pol who was in the special interest's pocket and Davis' response was a ham handed negative commercial that made me think Roe was right. Whether that's true or not is a moot point since Roe won, defeating the incumbent which is almost impossible to do and hasn't happened here for many years. Roe may or may not be the better man for the job, only time will tell, But if his election campaign is any indication of how he will use his skills and abilities he may do a far better job representing us than Davis ever did.
Lets see.... In the last 8 years the US Treasury has adopted Enron-style "off balance sheet" accounting to pay for 2 wars, and Mr. Davis thinks Republicans voting Democrat is his biggest problem? We deregulate the financial markets to such an extreme degree that we end up inadvertently socializing the housing sector, and Mr. Davis thinks Republicans voting Democrat are his biggest problem? The voters were right, Mr. Davis is not qualified to continue.
Agreed Mr. Brown. You lost, David Davis. Take it like a man. Continuing to throw blame around after such a negative campaign shows alot about our former congressman's character. Democrats have every right to vote in the Republican Primary, as Im sure many probably did, due to the political history of the area, and the weak Democratic contenders. You lost fair and square sir.
Well, this is one life-long Republican who went to the poll specifically to vate against Davis. I have simply not been impressed by his leadership. Will Roe be better? I don't know. But I saw no reason to perpetuate Davis' position.
I don't understand how the people of Washington County could vote for Roe after all he and Johnson City has done to cost county tax payers money. They have annexed every good part of county.
I'll will vote for the Democrat now!!!