Conner Eldridge discusses Boozman travels, campaign finances

Democratic U.S. Senate presumptive nominee Conner Eldridge says he’s not sure if he’ll put personal money into his campaign challenge against incumbent Republican Sen. John Boozman, but the upstart challenger plans to continue making hay of Boozman’s overseas travel schedule and refusal to debate him more than once.

Eldridge, appearing on this Sunday’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, said he hasn’t decided if he will self-fund a portion of his race.

“We’re going to compete,” he said. “I don’t know at this point.”

Eldridge trails Boozman in funds raised and cash on hand. Eldridge raised nearly $289,000 during the second quarter and has cash-on-hand of $315,071. Boozman raised almost $596,000 during the quarter and has a little more than $2 million in the bank.

“I’ve never been afraid of a fight and this is a worthy fight,” Eldridge said of his trailing in the polls. A late June 2016 TB&P-Hendrix College Poll showed Boozman with a 51-29% lead. “The critical issue in this campaign is leadership. Our campaign is showing leadership on issue after issue. Senator Boozman is nowhere to be found,” he added.

Recently, Eldridge has drawn attention to the overseas trips that Boozman has taken during his 16-year Congressional career. He contends that Boozman has “taken over 125 trips to 53 foreign countries.”

A Boozman spokesman said the assertion is misleading because the senator hasn’t taken 125 individual trips and that the trips often involved multiple visits to foreign countries. Eldridge contends the criticism is still fair.

Boozman has accepted one debate invitation – a fall debate on AETN – and Eldridge has pressed for more debates. As part of his current travel schedule, Eldridge has used the prop of a 1953 truck with a flatbed for debating. He was in Boozman’s hometown of Rogers this weekend and said earlier in the week, “We’ll be in his own backyard – the Senator is out of excuses.”

Watch the full Eldridge interview in the video below.