Never Trumpers Lose Big in Tennessee GOP Primary

The Never Trump donors who assembled to oppose Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) in the Thursday Republican primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District were trounced by the incumbent, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump more than one year before the election.

Ogles’ victory came despite the incumbent being outraised by his opponent, Metro Council Member Courtney Johnston, who also benefited from more than $600,000 in advertising from the Conservatives with Character super PAC, whose treasurer told The Tennessee Star its primary purpose was to see the Trump-endorsed incumbent defeated.

Conservatives with Character treasurer Randy Stamps also told The Star that he represents a contingent of Republicans who are uncomfortable with Trump’s influence over Republicans, stating, “there’s still a lot of Republicans that want to think through things and not just follow some personality and let that personality totally dominate the Republican Party.”

That super PAC also received $140,000 from The Best of Tennessee, another political group that happened to be co-founded by Johnston’s treasurer, the seasoned political fundraiser Kim Kaegi.

Shortly after receiving the $140,000, Conservatives with Character launched a $140,000 ad campaign targeting Ogles, and Stamps told The Star this advertising spend included misleading political mailers juxtaposing images of Trump and Johnston despite the former president backing Ogles.

In the week before the election, the super PAC spent an additional $256,000 to buy pro-Johnston ads.

Ogles ultimately won his party’s nomination for reelection with about 7,500 more votes than Johnston, receiving more than 32,000 votes to her approximately 24,600, and carrying Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District by over 13 percentage points.

The Trump-endorsed incumbent additionally carried every county in the district, with the notable exception of Davidson County, which is the seat of Nashville and was one of three Tennessee counties won by President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

While Ogles’ race may have been unique in that his opponent was backed by a super PAC that confirmed its opposition to the former president, former U.S. Senate candidate Tres Wittum expressed his opposition to Trump’s supporters and the Republican National Committee (RNC) platform Trump personally approved.

“Shameful,” wrote Wittum in a post to the social media platform X in response to the new Republican Party platform. “What was Marsha [Blackburn] thinking? All of the rhinos of the #TNGOP getting in line. Throw them all out!”

In another post, Wittum described Blackburn and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who endorsed Trump after ending his candidacy, as “grifters.”

Blackburn ultimately won the Republican Primary with more than 89 percent of the vote, receiving the support of more than 367,000 Tennesseans compared to the roughly 43,000 who cast a primary ballot for Wittum.

The senator will now face State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), a member of the Tennessee Three, on Election Day in November.

– – –

Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Andy Ogles” by Andy Olges. Photo “Courtney Johnston” by Courtney Johnston. Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.