Though the House Freedom Fund, the political arm of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC), last week announced its endorsement of State Representative Jody Barrett for the Republican nomination to represent Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, the 10-year-old congressional caucus did not respond to a Tuesday press inquiry seeking information about its methodology.
While HFC has historically supported school choice, the endorsement of Barrett notably follows his ineffective opposition to the Tennessee Education Freedom Act, the landmark school choice law passed earlier this year with the support of President Donald Trump, who congratulated the majority of Tennessee Republicans for moving forward with the legislation in January.
“Unless President Trump can keep this from mushrooming to over $1 billion per year in a decade or less, I will not be able to support it,” Barrett told The Tennessee Star in January, before the legislation passed, but after it received Trump’s approval.
Asked whether this meant Barrett was defying the president’s agenda, he told The Star, “I am representing my district.”
His opposition to the school choice bill was cited in a recent political advertisement from one of the pro-school choice organizations that supported the law, the School Freedom Fund by the Club for Growth, which highlighted his vote in addition to comments apparently made by Barrett about Trump during the 2016 race for the Republican presidential nomination.
The images in the advertisement specifically appeared to show Barrett referring to Trump as “a NY liberal douchebag,” and lamenting that Republican voters chose him over his preferred candidate.
Jody Barrett is anti-Trump and voted against School Choice.
He's the opposite of what we need in TN-07. Kick this snake to the curb! pic.twitter.com/6q1N1QfKP1
— David M. McIntosh (@DavidMMcintosh) August 5, 2025
More recently, Barrett launched into an unprompted attack on U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), a member of the HFC, during a candidate forum in Houston County.
Complaining of “billionaires” who “write big, fat checks” to political organizations that then support specific candidates, Barrett told the crowd, “Do you know how much money Andy Ogles has in his campaign account right now? $60,000.”
He stated, “How do you think he’s going to get reelected? It isn’t going to happen with $60,000. He’s going to get a whole heck of a lot of PAC money that comes in and lifts him up.”
The House Freedom Fund spent more than $90,000 to support the candidacy of Ogles in 2022, according to OpenSecrets, which sorts and displays federal election data.
The endorsement of a candidate who seemingly opposes the HFC’s stance on school choice and publicly maligned one of its members is the latest in a series of secretive decisions by the caucus.
Trump notably had to personally enter negotiations with the HFC Chair, U.S. Representative Andy Harris (R-MD-01), who, along with 10 other congressmen, held out to force the administration’s hand on related cryptocurrency legislation. Both Trump and Harris ultimately celebrated the conclusion of the negotiations on July 16.
Similar negotiations were required only weeks earlier, when Trump helped shepherd the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, despite opposition from HFC members.
Harris initially voted present on the critical bill in May, but later voted to pass it in July.
Trump had an even more fraught relationship with the last HFC leader, former U.S. Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05), who lost to a primary challenger last year.
Good initially endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over Trump in the 2024 presidential primary, but later endorsed Trump after the president’s campaign said the prior decision meant Good “won’t be electable.”
Just weeks after Good claimed that he had never publicly criticized Trump while on the campaign trail, a secretly recorded video showed Good claim Trump’s “baggage” made him the only candidate capable of losing to former President Joe Biden.
Amid the controversy, the HFC reportedly voted to remove U.S. Representative Warren Davidson (R-OH-08), who endorsed Good’s challenger in July 2024.
Internal disagreements seemingly did not end when Harris assumed leadership, as U.S. Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01), a HFC member, argued in January that Republicans should defer to the president’s legislative agenda after HFC released a statement advising against pursuing the One Big Beautiful Bill.
“I didn’t sign the statement, because I’m like, it’s whatever President Trump wants to do,” said Harshbarger. She added, “Whatever he wants is what we’ll do.”
Another possible rift emerged this month, when U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH-04), one of the most prominent members of the caucus, broke with the endorsement of Barrett.
Jordan instead endorsed Matt Van Epps, the former Tennessee state official and veteran who was also endorsed by former Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07).
“Lt. Colonel Matt Van Epps is a husband and father, a West Point graduate… a decorated combat veteran and helicopter pilot… and THE TRUE TRUMP CONSERVATIVE we need to fill our friend Mark Green’s seat in Congress,” stated Jordan last week.
A spokesman for HFC did not respond to a Tuesday press inquiry from The Star that sought to clarify how consensus was reached before making the endorsement and whether the caucus’ endorsement process accommodates separate endorsements from individual members.
The spokesman also did not respond to questions about the HFC vetting process for endorsements, including whether it considered Barrett’s opposition to school choice, past remarks about Trump, and recent attack on one of its members.
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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 “Jody Barrett” by Jody Barrett for Tennessee.
It will be almost impossible to fill Mark green’s shoes, but they could at least do better than this guy. Too many Rs are lazy, incompetent and frauds.
The Tennessee Education Freedom Act does nothing for Jody’s district or mine, we’re just forced to fund it. It’s for the big cities and should’ve been kept in them.
Regardless of your hatchet job against him, Jody’s hands down the best choice for our district.