The Conservatives with Character super PAC supporting Metro Council Member Courtney Johnston in her campaign to unseat Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) in the Republican primary on Wednesday spent more than $256,000 in advertisement in the final days before the election.
A reported filed with the Federal Election Commission by Conservatives with Character Treasurer Randy Stamps confirmed the organization spent $200,000 with the New Mexico-based Ad Placement Results LLC, an additional $30,000 to the Nashville-based VOR Media advertising firm, and $26,820 with HTTV Direct LLC, a Virginia-based political mailing firm.
In total, Conservatives with Character spent $256,820 right before the election. The primary election is on August 1.
The report also revealed the group has so far spent $640,627 in its effort to unseat Ogles, meaning the final ad purchase represents about 40 percent of Conservatives with Character’s total ad purchases in 2024.
Stamps confirmed to The Tennessee Star on Tuesday that Conservatives with Character was behind the recent political mailers that included Johnston and former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Ogles last year.
Despite the group’s mailers linking Johnston to the former president, Stamps told The Star he is among the contingent of Republicans who, “want to think through things and not just follow some personality and let that personality totally dominate the Republican Party,” in an apparent reference to Trump.
Stamps also described Ogles as an “embarrassment” and compared him to former Representative George Santos, who was expelled from the U.S. House after he was accused of financial crimes despite not being convicted. Ogles has not been accused of any crimes.
Ogles told The Star on Monday the pro-Johnston mailers were sent in the wake of the failed attempt to assassinate the former president, and declared it “disgraceful and despicable” for Johnston’s supporters to “exploit Trump’s name at a time like this for the sake of deceptive politics.”
Conservatives with Character previously spent $140,000 on pro-Johnston and anti-Ogles political advertising shortly after it received a $140,000 contribution from The Best of Tennessee, which is linked to the Johnston campaign through its co-founder, Kim Kaegi, who is also Johnston’s treasurer.
Stamps told The Star that Conservatives with Character and The Best of Tennessee are of a “similar mindset,” and suggested the $140,000 contribution was evidence of their shared political leanings.
Other founders of The Best of Tennessee include pro-abortion attorney Chloe Akers and Tom Ingram, a political consultant and lobbyist who has been a fixture of Tennessee politics since 1978.
Ingram stated in a 2022 speech that lampooned the Make America Great Again slogan employed by Trump that he is an independent voter with “deep respect for Democrats.”
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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 Ogles. Photo “Courtney Johnston” by Courtney Johnston.
“Conservatives with Character” sounds like a name the Dems would use.
I agree with the comments above.
We all need to call out these Fake Conservatives.
And to the GOP > STOP letting Libs run as Republicans just because they paid $35 and crossed over to vote in Repub Primaries. There’s one in Williamson County on the School Board – a Leftist who claims to the a Repub and who the Dems crossover to vote for. That damages the Republican brand.
Funny how leftists pretending to be conservtives always choose names completely opposite of who they are. And they alwasy think money solves/fixes everything. I love it when they waste millions of dollars for naught. At least there is then less money to waste on other issues.
These people are eveil, they are liars, they are anti-American. Every time I see this woman’s mug, I immediately see Gretchen Whitmer. That oughta tell you something.
Go Andy!
Look up Johnson’s statements about her tenure on the City Council. She said she sides with the leftists more often than not. She is a RINO.
We voted early, in-person, for Marsha Blackburn, Mark Green and Mary Littleton. RINOs and Democrats in Drag can take their sleazy con-jobs elsewhere.
Looks like The Conservatives with Character super PAC, and The Best of Tennessee political organization, supporting Metro Council member Courtney Johnston really don’t like U. S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R, Tennessee 5th District).
I guess they think that Ogles does not vote right. I guess they think that Ogles is too conservative. I guess that they want someone who is more ‘Moderate’ (I think that is the word that is often used for what the rest of us just call a RINO {i.e., fake or false} ‘Republican’). So, now we have established exactly where and what Ms. Johnston is on the political spectrum. Ms. Johnston sounds like a ‘Never Trump’ so-called ‘Republican’ to me.
For a strong Conservative ‘real deal’ Republican leader, vote to re-elect Andy Ogles as your U. S. Representative in Congress.