Lundberg: Bobby Harshbarger’s father stole, vandalized campaign signs

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — State Senate candidate Bobby Harshbarger’s father has been accused of stealing and vandalizing Harshbarger opponent Jon Lundberg’s campaign signs, based on video allegedly showing Bob Harshbarger vandalizing a Lundberg sign in Blountville.

Jon Lundberg, the incumbent District 4 Senator, swore an affidavit Tuesday accusing Bob Harshbarger, of Kingsport, of pushing over a sign near a Dollar General around noon Tuesday. The affidavit also claims the video — taken by Sam Lundberg, Jon Lundberg’s daughter — also shows “signs in the rear of his vehicle (that) clearly demonstrate theft.”

Bobby Harshbarger and Bob Harshbarger are the son and husband, respectively, of First District Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger.

A clerk for the Sullivan County General Sessions Court told News Channel 11 Wednesday a summons for Bob Harshbarger had been generated but not yet served.

Bobby Harshbarger’s campaign manager told News Channel 11 Tuesday afternoon that the candidate would address the allegations with the station on camera at 3 p.m. Wednesday, but backed out of the interview two minutes before its scheduled time.

Instead, the campaign sent a statement attributable to Caleb Rose, the campaign’s manager:

“Throughout this campaign, Jon Lundberg has done everything in his power to deflect from his voting record. In the closing days of the election, Lundberg is attempting to make this race about yard signs because he can’t defend his record of betraying East Tennesseans and doing the favor of Nashville elites.”

Lundberg, meanwhile, told News Channel 11 Wednesday that after losing signs “here and there” since early May, his campaign had noticed the loss rate increasing over the past few weeks.

“Monday, Tuesday this week we were losing dozens of signs in Sullivan and Hawkins County,” Lundberg said.

Lundberg’s affidavit said campaign volunteers in a race that has seen total campaign spending well in excess of $2 million were watching several locations. The senator told News Channel 11 that a handful of volunteers were putting up signs Tuesday or repairing damaged ones, when two of them “staked out locations” to see if they could witness someone messing with Lundberg’s signs.

Sam Lundberg saw and video recorded a person drive up, wait for traffic to pass, and “very clearly grab our sign, push it down and knock it down,” Jon Lundberg said.

Lundberg said, consistent with his affidavit, that Sam Lundberg confronted the person, whom she recognized to be Bob Harshbarger, and that he denied touching the sign.

“He had opened his trunk, and inside there are a half-dozen or a dozen of my signs,” Lundberg said.

Asked how his daughter knew it was Bob Harshbarger, Lundberg said he had met the elder Harshbarger several times and “you can hear his voice, you can literally see him.”

Lundberg filed his affidavit in Sullivan County Sessions Court. It cites potential violations of Tennessee Code Annotated 39-14-408 (vandalism) and 39-14-103 (theft).

Lundberg criticized the Harshbarger campaign’s tactics Wednesday, as he has through the duration of the campaign. Campaign material for Harshbarger, and against Lundberg, has accused the two-term senator of being a liberal who doesn’t represent the region’s values and has cast votes in Nashville that are anti-gun, pro-LGBTQ and enabling of undocumented migrants, among other things.

Lundberg called those “blatant fabrications” and part of a “rough and brutal” campaign. He claimed that he has countered with “positive messages about the record, about what we’ve done and what we’re going to do in Tennessee.”

Lundberg supporters have also gone negative, though. News Channel 11’s analysis of mailers sent out in the race show more than half a dozen negative messages about Harshbarger, while negative messages about Lundberg exceed a dozen.

The election is Thursday. As of July 25, total spending on the race was $2.4 million , with Lundberg and supporting political action committees (PACS) having spent a little more than $1.4 million combined and Harshbarger and supporting PACS just under $1 million.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather.