NASHVILLE (AP) - Weston Wamp announced Monday that he is mounting another bid to win his father's old seat in Congress.
Wamp announced in Chattanooga that he will again challenge incumbent Rep. Chuck Fleischmann in the Republican primary this year.
"This Congress is the least productive and least popular in our nation's history and for three years now, Chuck Fleischmann has simply gone along with the flow," Wamp said. "He has done nothing to change Washington."
Fleischmann, who won the seat vacated by Zach Wamp when he ran for governor in 2010, beat the younger Wamp and dairy executive Scottie Mayfield to win the GOP nomination on his way to a second term in 2012.
According to campaign finance records, Wamp raised $668,000 for his last campaign, while Fleischmann raised $1.4 million. Fleischmann won 39 percent of the primary vote, compared with 31 percent for Mayfield and 29 percent for Wamp.
Wamp on Monday stressed that he won Hamilton County, which is home to both challenger and incumbent and the largest of the 11 East Tennessee counties that make up the district.
Democrats haven't held the 3rd District seat that now includes all or part of 11 East Tennessee counties since Zach Wamp won the seat in 1992.
Fleischmann spokesman Jordan Powell was dismissive of the challenge
"He comes from a family consumed with politics and is simply continuing that tradition," Powell said in an email. "His announcement comes as no surprise."
Powell said Wamp never stopped running for the seat, other than when he said he might run against embattled U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais in the neighboring 4th District.
DesJarlais, a physician, won re-election last year despite disclosures that he had affairs with patients and once urged one of them to seek an abortion. State Sen. Jim Tracy of Shelbyville is running against DesJarlais, and has a vast fundraising advantage so far.
Fleischmann and DesJarlais are trying to avoid becoming just the second Tennessee congressman to be defeated in a primary since 1966. Former U.S. Rep. David Davis was the last incumbent to lose when he was beaten by fellow Republican Phil Roe of Kingsport in 2008.