U.S. Rep. Jimmy Duncan
01 — How It Started
In 2017, U.S. Rep. John "Jimmy" Duncan Jr. was in the middle of his 15th term in Congress representing East Tennessee. First elected in 1988 to replace his father (who had served 12 terms since 1964), Duncan had not faced serious campaign opposition in years — he didn't even have a website.
When I heard from Knoxville sources that Duncan had been paying his disgraced son to work on his campaign, I started a deep dive into the campaign's finances. What I discovered was that the Congressman had been paying a lot of family members a lot of money, and it seemed like a lot of that money wasn't being used for campaigning.
02 — Where the Reporting Went
"Knoxville congressman won’t seek re-election"
Three weeks after my bombshell reporting, Duncan announced he wouldn't run for reelection.
"Duncan settled lawsuit with federal funds"
I reported a few months later that Duncan had used Congressional funds to settle a discrimination lawsuit.
"Duncan under ethics investigation"
Seven months after my initial reporting, the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into Duncan's spending.
"Duncan ethics investigation continuing"
The House Ethics Committee discovered Duncan spent tens of thousands of campaign funds on luxury travel, parties, gifts and dinners.
03 — What Happened
Duncan eventually repaid some of the misused funds and avoided serious legal consequences. But his preferred candidate to replace him in office, state. Rep. Jimmy Matlock, lost the GOP primary in 2018 after a bitter campaign against then-Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett.
The Duncan family — and Burchett's ex-wife, a close friend of Duncan's wife — were intimately involved in the campaign. Things turned really nasty, with personal smears, fabricated stories that other reporters didn't question, and bizarre emails to the governor.
Due to my reporting, I experienced extreme online harassment for months until the primary ended. However, seven years later, the Duncan family's stranglehold on Knoxville politics seems permanently broken.