VOLuntarilyConservative

I sent out the following press release to East Tennessee media outlets and 1st District candidates at approximately 1:30 P.M.

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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Huddleston Chooses Not to Seek 1st District Seat

February 28, 2006

KNOX COUNTY – Rob Huddleston, a Knoxville-based attorney who has been contemplating running for Congress in the 1st District of Tennessee, has decided that he will not run for the seat in 2006.

Huddleston, who formerly spent time in Washington, D.C., working for the National Rifle Association, current U.S. Senate candidate Ed Bryant, and former Senator Fred Thompson, announced on his award-winning blog, VOLuntarilyConservative, that he was caught off-guard by the announcement of Congressman Bill Jenkins that he would be retiring at the end of his current term. After nearly two weeks of reflection, Huddleston came to a decision.

"The decision to run for public office is always a difficult one," said Huddleston. "Those familiar with me know that I consider being elected to represent the citizens of the First District of Tennessee in the U.S. Congress the highest honor an East Tennessean can be paid. That reverence is what has made this decision so difficult, and I thank my family, the media, and my fellow Republicans for indulging me during this decision-making process."

"After much prayer and discussions with my family and people of the First District, I have decided to forego any campaign for the 1st District's seat in Congress in 2006. It simply is not the right time for my family, and I hope that those who have encouraged and invited my entrance as a candidate will understand and respect my decision," Huddleston announced Tuesday.

"I would like to thank my wife, Angela, for her heartfelt support in this matter," said Huddleston. "Despite obvious challenges that a primary and general election campaign would mean for the lives of our family, she never wavered in her support."

"I might have made a different decision if this was only effecting me and me alone," stated Huddleston. "However, this decision would demand the time, attention, and resources of too many people at this point. Some of those people aren't even born yet. My sister, Sarah Fulks, a former teacher in the Kingsport schools, is expecting her second child during this campaign season. It's more important right now that I tend to my duties as a husband, a brother, an uncle, and a son than to be the next Congressman representing the great people of the 1st District of Tennessee."

When asked for an endorsement of announced candidates for the seat, Huddleston did not offer any hints of who he would be endorsing at this time.

"I am familiar with all of the announced candidates – David Davis through his service as my former State Representative, Vance Cheek through his service to the people of Johnson City and e-mail correspondence over the past few years, Jeff Anderson as the former Chief of Staff for Congressman Jenkins and a member of my parents' former church, and Richard Venable for his many years of service for Sullivan County," Huddleston said. "In fact, I saw Mr. Davis and Mr. Venable in Kingsport just this past weekend at a dinner. I hold all of these men in high regard. However, I believe it the prudent course to allow for the field to settle before endorsing one candidate. I certainly expect for others to join this race."

Huddleston did not rule out future campaigns. "I am still quite young in political terms," Huddleston said with a laugh. "I will go wherever the good Lord leads me, but I certainly would be a bit disappointed on a personal level if that is away from the service of the citizens of the First District."

Born in Kingsport, Huddleston has lived the vast majority of his life in the First District. He graduated from Sullivan East High School in Bluff City, as well as East Tennessee State University with a degree in Chemistry with Honors before attending The University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville.

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