An enraged Tennessee woman allegedly tried to run her Republican congressman off the road over his vote to repeal Obamacare. Weakly County Sheriffs arrested Wendi Wright, 35, on Thursday for a heated encounter with GOP Rep. David Kustoff in which the freshman lawmaker accused the woman of trying to run his car off the road, according to a statement from the department.
Kustoff — one of 217 House Republicans who voted May 4 to dismantle the former president’s signature health-care law — held a town hall meeting at the University of Tennessee at Martin on Monday.
But as he and aide Marianne Dunavant left the engagement, Wright followed them in her own car, driving so close on Highway 45 that Kustoff and Dunavant were “in fear of being forced off the roadway,” sheriffs said.
The congressman pulled over and Wright followed suit, emerging from her own car to pound on the lawmaker’s ride and even reach in to try and grab him, Tennessee cops said. ADVERTISING
Wright fled before cops could arrive, but they nabbed her because she posted about the encounter on Facebook.
Wright was enraged by Kustoff’s vote to repeal Obamacare.
“I’ve been led to believe she was upset over a vote he had cast involving health care,” Sgt. Marty Plunk told Buzzfeed.
The May 4 House vote paves the way for states to individually determine whether people with pre-existing conditions can enroll in state-operated health care exchanges created under Obamacare. The Senate still needs to pass the bill and it would have to be signed by President Trump.
If Tenessee opts to not cover pre-existing conditions, 230,000 Tennesseans could be stripped of coverage, Tennessee Hospital Association President Greg Becker recently told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Wright is being charged with reckless endangerment, a felony, and was released on $1,000 bail, cops said.
Wright and Kustoff did not immediately return calls for comment.
