5th District GOP candidate Staats arrested on domestic assault charge Sunday

The Republican candidate who lost the race for the 5^th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month was arrested Sunday on a domestic violence charge. Metro Police said Hermitage business owner Brad Staats was charged with domestic assault Sunday after his wife Bethany claimed he slapped her in the face. A police statement says Brad Staats told an officer he pushed his wife onto a bed during a verbal disagreement and left the home. Staats topped a five-candidate field by 40 votes to win the Republican nomination in August for the new 5^th District, which includes Dickson County. In the November general election, Staats received 48.7 percent of the votes in Dickson County and 51 percent in Cheatham County, but only got 30 percent of the vote in Davidson County as incumbent Democrat Jim Cooper handily won re-election with 65 percent of the votes across the district. Staats, 43, was booked into the Davidson County Jail early Sunday morning on a misdemeanor charge of domestic assault and released on $5,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 7.