In a Wednesday interview with SuperTalk 99.7 WTN host Michael DelGiorno, TN-5 candidate Andy Ogles misled the public again on the subject of his late-filed July quarterly campaign finance report and declined to address the reason why he late-filed.
Ogles filed his first campaign finance report for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) April 1 through June 30 reporting period on Saturday, July 23, eight days after the July 15 deadline.
When he did file, it was revealed that Ogles loaned the campaign $320,000 on April 15 but had only raised roughly $66,600 in contributions by May 11, according to a contribution-by-contribution analysis of his campaign’s second-quarter report filed with the FEC conducted by The Tennessee Star.
Ogles proceeded to make several factually inaccurate statements which did not address the reason why the report was filed late. He alluded to pledged but not received contributions, and said he was using the same campaign strategy as JD Vance in the May 2022 GOP senate primary in Ohio. Opponents may jump on Ogles’ explanation as a description of activities that cross the line on rules prohibiting coordination between campaigns and SuperPACs.
DelGiorno asked Ogles the following:
The suggestion that perhaps that you were late in filing – that you gave people the notion that you had a lot more money than you did and you were late in your filing – and that was all an attempt to attract out-of-state-money. Your response to that allegation? I feel the need to ask it because it was made on this station.
Ogles began his response saying, “So, you know, when I got into the race – you know, back mid-April, between that time and the election is a little over what, 100, 105 days, right? It’s a three-month campaign.”
Ogles officially announced his candidacy on March 22. He filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on April 6, which enabled him to avoid having to file a FEC first-quarter campaign finance report for the first-quarter reporting period which covered the dates of January 1 through March 31.
Ogles did not provide a reason for the late filing in his response.
Typically, when you’re running for Congress, it’s an 18-month window. So you have plenty of time to raise money, to have reports, et cetera. So we counted on that, money that we had on hand, money that was pledged. But as we moved forward, we watched very closely, I don’t know if you’re familiar with JD Vance and the Ohio Senate race.
Previously reported, Ogles claimed in a press statement released on May 11 that he “raised $453,000” during the first month of his candidacy to secure the Republican nomination in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.
Ogles’ press statement specifically said he “raised” $453,000.
The Tennessee Journal additionally reported on May 11 that the Ogles campaign said that “none of his fundraising total came in the form of loans and that all contributions were from within Tennessee.”
At least two of those claims were proven to be false.
Ogles made no mention of pledges in any interview or press release at that time.
Ogles then proceeded to tell DelGiorno that he was not allowed to coordinate and that his campaign was not doing that, but then that they were working in parallel with groups who are running ads on his behalf and knocking doors on his behalf.
Of course, you can’t coordinate. You can’t communicate, but JD Vance – you know, his campaign worked in parallel with a PAC that did positive things on his behalf, and so the campaign – we chose that strategy, so we firewalled off some of our donors away from the campaign to go run positive ads. So there’s been radio, and mailers, there’s been doors knocked that I have not been able to control because the campaign wasn’t doing it.
But that was a better strategy for us, which allowed us to have a smaller team and we could focus more on the grassroots day-to-day: me going to events, doing the meet-and-greets, and the strategy is working. I’m leading, that’s why I am being attacked so viciously. But you know, when you have an operation that already does mailers for other congressional candidates – whether they knock doors for other congressional candidates – that dollar that I would have spent on the campaign is worth $1.50 or $2.00 on the other side of that firewall. So I doubled my money by doing what JD Vance did in Ohio. It worked for him and he won and he prevailed and it’s working for me and I expect to win.
In essence, Ogles additionally told the WTN host that he wasn’t coordinating, but then described the manner in which his campaign benefited from and worked with the outside groups. He additionally failed to mention that the outside groups were running attack ads on his behalf, in addition to the positive ones promoting him.
It was previously noted that Club for Growth spent millions opposing Vance’s Trump-endorsed campaign.
The Star recently reported that several out-of-state groups, including the Club for Growth, are spending well over a million dollars to boost Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles’ bid for the Republican nomination for TN-5 and to attack his opponents Beth Harwell and Kurt Winstead.
Club for Growth famously spent $1,000,000 against then-candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
One of Club for Growth’s PACs, the Wisconsin-based USA Freedom Fund, spent over $1.5 million to oppose former President Trump’s endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, JD Vance. The PAC has also spent at least $786,500 to support Ogles and attack his opponents, records show.
The Virginia-based Americans for Prosperity Action, Inc., which does business as AFP Action, CVA Action, or Libre Action, and has endorsed Ogles, has spent significant money backing him.
FEC records show that AFP Action has spent at least $200,000 in support of Ogles’ run.
The Star also previously printed content that said the Koch family-controlled Americans for Prosperity backed amnesty for illegal aliens, released television ads backing big tech, and that “‘Vindictive’ Americans for Prosperity Foundation” filed an FOIA lawsuit that “targets conservatives working to repeal Section 230.”
One TN-5 observer familiar with the workings of the Ogles campaign told The Star, “Ogles is working with Club for Growth and he’s very proud of that fact. He’s said it publicly at events for months. He’s trying to obfuscate that they have been Never Trump in a lot of their races and specifically cited JD Vance, Trump’s endorsed candidate in Ohio, to cause confusion on the issue. Club for Growth attacked JD Vance to the tune of millions.”
“The mention of pledges is baloney, because no one in their right mind would have taken on his cause based on campaign pledges, especially establishment insider groups like Club for Growth and AFP,” the observer continued. “He was bluffing with his false press release.”
“In a strange twist, Ogles told DelGiorno that he wasn’t allowed to coordinate with outside groups, but then basically said how he was. His whole messaging is not above board,” concluded the observer.
Ogles additionally told The Star previously that he was working with Club for Growth.
The Star reached out to Ogles personally and his campaign on whether or not he stood by his comments made on 99.7 WTN. No response has been given as of press time.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Andy Ogles” by Andy Ogles.
The question should be asked where the 320,000 came from. I’ve heard he took out a loan and his Mother co-signed it.