Scottie Mayfield. / facebook.com/scottie.mayfieldCHATTANOOGA -
(WRCB) – A man best known in East Tennessee for his
dairy empire may soon be running for congress.
Wednesday, Scottie Mayfield announced he's considering a congressional run
against United States Representative Chuck Fleischmann for the 3rd district
seat.
"I'm focused on, ‘do I want to go to Washington
and represent the 3rd District'," Mayfield explains. "It's a big
responsibility."
And one that Scottie Mayfield is not jumping into.
"We had our first family and friends around the dinner table meeting this afternoon,
because it's a big decision," he says.
Mayfield serves as president of Mayfield Dairy, based in Athens.
He has no previous experience in politics.
But a less demanding role at the dairy, a rich background in business and a
newly drawn district map seems like the perfect recipe for a congressional run.
"I've been talking about it all my life, had
friends calling me as soon as the district was changing, so I'm going to look
at it seriously and make a decision hopefully in a couple weeks," Mayfield
says.
Mayfield would run as a Republican, facing first-term incumbent Chuck Fleischmann
along with Weston Wamp, son of former Representative Zach Wamp, and two others
in the primary.
"It wasn't even about Chuck," he says. "It wasn't about anybody. It was just
about, ‘oh my goodness, I could probably do this'."
Mayfield hopes to make an announcement in the
next few weeks.
The deadline to qualify is April 5; the primary election date is set for August
2.
So far, two democrats, Bill Taylor and Mary Headrick, have announced their
intentions to run in the 3rd district.
