TN gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee stops in Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – With the gubernatorial primary election only days away, you could find candidate Bill Lee in Chattanooga speaking to around 30 people in a town hall.

It was one of his stops Monday as he continued to tour the state.

“There’s a lot of momentum, and we feel a lot electricity in our town halls and we’re doing four and five a day. So we’re traveling from one county to the next meeting with hundreds of people and it’s very exciting,” Lee said.

The businessman is one of several Republicans running for Governor.

Diane Black, Randy Boyd, and Beth Harwell are also vying to be on the November ballot.

At the town hall, Lee answered questions from education and veterans, to organic farming.

He said the questions he gets most: what is the most important thing to him and what he plans to do first when getting into office.

“And everywhere I go I say no matter where we are people want a good job and a good school for their kid and a safe neighborhood and that’s what I’m going to focus on,” Lee said.

The race has become heated with what Lee called “deceptive and dishonest” attack ads.

He said those ads are what’s wrong with politics.

“When you begin to surge in the polls and others become desperate then they have to resort to attack, they don’t have to, but they choose to resort to attack so that’s really what happens you get desperate and you begin to attack. That’s what we see out there happening,” Lee said

Lee said he’s very encouraged by polling.

A recent report was put out by JMC Analytics and Polling, and Lee had the lead.

“I think Tennesseans want a conservative. And they want an outsider, someone who has come from outside government and there’s only one candidate that brings both and that’s in large part the reason for surge here in the last few weeks,” Lee said.

The candidate is scheduled to continue his tour Tuesday.

Voters head to the polls on Thursday.