U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis’ campaign field director was fired Thursday, a day after he was arrested on aggravated assault charges for allegedly harassing Davis’ challenger, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, and her supporters at a campaign event in Springfield.

Levi Lovell, 25, was arrested Wednesday evening outside J.P. Kelly’s Pub, 300 E. Adams St., after an altercation with two attendees of the Londrigan event and a bar employee. Springfield police were called a little after 7:30 p.m.

Emma Brown, Londrigan's campaign manager, said the fundraiser was a ticketed event. Lovell was asked to leave, she said, and became belligerent and "started shoving people." Staff from J.P. Kelly's escorted him out, she said.

Springfield police Lt. Brian Oakes said Lovell, who lives in Hillsboro, showed up to the event “purposely trying to record members of Betsy Dirsken Londrigan’s campaign, trying to get them to say something inappropriate.”

Oakes said Lovell “smelled like an alcoholic beverage” and was “believed to be intoxicated.”

Davis' campaign manager, Matt Butcher, said Lovell had been terminated from the campaign.

“This campaign has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment or violence of any kind," Butcher said in a statement.

The altercation was caught on cellphone video, which has since been turned over to the police and posted on social media by news media.

Londrigan said in a statement that she was "relieved that my family, staff, and supporters are all OK and that this incident didn’t escalate even further.

"I am disturbed that someone would show up to an event and try to harass and intimidate me and my family, but he is sorely mistaken if he thinks that it is going to slow me down one bit," she said. "Nasty, divisive politics do nothing for our community. I will continue to hold public town halls, campaign with civility, and show this office and voters the respect they deserve.”

Brown said that Davis "needs to answer very clearly whether he or his campaign were aware of what this young man planned to do or even directed him to attend the event and try to intimidate Betsy, her family, and her supporters.”

In a statement, Davis, R-Taylorville, apologized to Londrigan, her husband and the staff at J.P. Kelly's.

"The incident involving a young field representative on my campaign should have never happened and his employment was immediately terminated," Davis said. "His actions go against everything I stand for and go directly against what I have been promoting, which is more civility in politics. This kind of behavior will never be tolerated on my campaign or with anyone on my staff."

Londrigan said most of her events are open to the public, which attracts people of all stripes, including perhaps Republican campaign "trackers." But she said what transpired Wednesday night was "wrong, from beginning to end."

"As a candidate, I expect a certain amount of tracking," Londrigan said. "... But the aggressiveness was completely inappropriate. And going after my family was wholly unforgivable."

The incident adds a new element to a race that could help determine which political party controls the U.S. House come January.

Londrigan, who emerged from a five-person primary field in March to become the district's Democratic nominee, is expected to give Davis his strongest challenge since he was first elected to Congress in 2012.

That year, Davis defeated Democrat David Gill by just more than 1,000 votes. But since, Democrats have not come close, with Davis's closest election actually being a 13-point Republican primary victory in 2014 against Erika Harold, now the party's nominee for Illinois attorney general.

But with high Democratic enthusiasm — fueled by opposition to President Donald Trump — Democrats believe Londrigan can defeat Davis. The race is currently rated 'Lean Republican' by The Cook Political Report.

While Davis has voted with Trump on nearly everything, he has repeatedly called for more bipartisanship in Washington and civility in politics. Davis's campaign would not respond when asked if Lovell was sent to Londrigan's event on behalf of the campaign.

Lovell's LinkedIn profile identifies him as a field director for Davis' congressional campaign and says he's held that role since March. Before that, he had been working as a supervisor for UPS in Mattoon.

His profile says he had volunteered for U.S. Rep. John Shimkus' 2016 campaign and had interned for state Rep. Tim Butler in 2015 and Gov. Bruce Rauner's 2014 campaign.

The profile says Lovell graduated from Lincoln Land Community College and from Eastern Illinois University, where he was involved with College Republicans.

Political Writer Bernard Schoenburg contributed to this report. Contact Brenden Moore: 788-1526, brenden.moore@sj-r.com, twitter.com/brendenmoore13.