A pro-abortion lawyer based in Knoxville has joined forces with Tennessee political fundraiser Kim Kaegi to form three strategically intertwined organizations – a 501 (c) (4) nonprofit, a political action committee (PAC), and a super PAC, a Wednesday report reveals.
The PACs and nonprofit will be called The Best of Tennessee, and the political wing of the operation will focus on “pro-choice” messaging to elect moderate candidates, according to The Tennessean.
Notably, a super PAC can legally accept huge donations from out-of-state billionaires well in excess of $1 million, so long as the donations are reported to the Federal Election Commission. Similarly, 501 (c) (4) nonprofits can legally accept huge donations from out-of-state billionaires well in excess of $1 million, but are not required to release the names of those donors.
Pro-abortion attorney Chloe Akers (pictured above, right), a Democrat, and Kaegi, who is a successful fundraiser for both Republicans and Democrats in Tennessee politics, will lead the group. Their goal is reportedly to “elevate moderate voices and engage voters who feel alienated by major political parties,” the left-wing outlet reported, adding that the Best of Tennessee organizations have already raised over $600,000. In November, Akers told Axios she expects the Best of Tennessee organizations will raise between $5 million and $7 million during the 2024 election cycle.
Though The Best of Tennessee does not appear to have a direct connection to the well-financed Lincoln Project, the nationally focused, Never Trumper organization, the two organizations seem to frame their missions, at least in part, in similar language.
The Lincoln Project, organized in 2019, offered similarly lofty ambitions when it launched, describing itself at the time as an effort that “transcends partisanship and is dedicated to nothing less than preservation of the principles that so many have fought for,” but its purpose from the start was focused on defeating Donald J. Trump. Its website still loudly proclaims in its mission statement: “We’re here to stop Trump, break MAGA, and save America.” The group raised $87 million in the 2020 election cycle.
Five years later Akers is less direct about the anti-MAGA political objectives of the new Best of Tennessee group. Axios described Akers’ motivations in this November 2023 article:
Chloe Akers is not a politician. Raised in Tennessee, she spent some 15 years as a criminal defense attorney. That changed last year after the Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson decision came down, reversing Roe v. Wade. Chloe made a video on her personal Instagram account explaining Tennessee’s new resulting abortion law, and what it would mean for doctors and patients. The video went viral. And organizations asked her to come speak to explain the law. . . That was the driver behind what Chloe first called “The Liminal Plan,” and has now been rebranded as “The Best of Tennessee” – moving away from a focus on specific policy issues like abortion and guns. Chloe, who identifies as a Democrat, says the organization is non-partisan, and aims to chip away at extremism in Tennessee politics by funding candidates from both parties who better represent the people’s views AND by reengaging disillusioned voters.
In that November article, Akers told Axios she was looking to find a Republican to join the project so she could present a “bipartisan” appearance for the organization because, “one concern, that kept coming up over and over, that I kept hearing from people was, well, you’re a Democrat and they were nervous that I was moving forward with a organization that was not political at all. . . People just couldn’t believe that I didn’t have some nefarious underlying agenda. . . They couldn’t believe this wasn’t some Trojan horse designed to just, like, destroy the Republican Party.”
“And the more I would try to address that question, the more I realized that I needed to work with, genuinely create, a more bipartisan organization and entity. And so I was connected with a number of folks in the Republican party who have been incredibly instrumental to reframing the project. And the best of Tennessee is not just a super PAC. We are a 501c4, we are also have a super PAC, and also a hard money PAC. We sort of restructured to have this portfolio of entities to help us execute this strategy. This isn’t about policy. It isn’t about Republican or Democrat. This is a non political organization,” Akers asserted.
On Wednesday Akers told the The Tennessean that her desire to form the political operation with Kaegi began after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Tennessee’s pro-life abortion law automatically went into effect.
She told the outlet she wanted to “bring the law on abortion back in line with the middle” of politics. She suggested politicians were unwilling to compromise, and citing the Covenant School shooting in March 2023, she explained, “The problem appears to be a lack of accountability with lawmakers.”
Akers previously said Tennessee has “a broken democracy” and promised to create “a policy movement” “for moderates” in her Liminal Plan, which Knoxville News reported Akers claimed is “a ruthlessly pragmatic approach” to fix the state’s democratic system.
The candidates Kaegi and Akers intend to target in primary or general election contests using The Best of Tennessee are not named by the activists, but the decision by Akers and Kaegi to form The Best of Tennessee comes as multiple sources tell The Tennessee Star that Kaegi will raise money for the likely primary challenge by Metro Nashville Councilwoman Courtney Johnston (pictured above left) against incumbent Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05).
Johnston confirmed she is interested in challenging Ogles last month, declaring, “The people of Middle Tennessee deserve better than Andy Ogles.”
Kaegi is a seasoned political fundraiser, but she made headlines in 2018 when The Tennessean revealed that her fundraising firm received $116,290 from disgraced former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, a Democrat, who is running for her party’s nomination to challenge incumbent Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) in the November 2024 general election.
Kaegi is expected to be joined in the effort to elect Johnston by Blake Harris, a Tennessee political consultant who works for Governor Bill Lee. Harris was accused in 2018 of staffing Lee’s administration with critics of former President Donald Trump, who was in his first term in the White House at the time, despite Lee winning his election on a pro-Trump message.
Johnston has described herself as a moderate Republican during her tenure on the Metro Nashville City Council, and told The Nashville Scene last year that she finds herself agreeing with colleagues who are politically on the left.
“I’m not out here fighting abortion or LGBT anything, like some conservative-leaning groups want me to and have pressured me to do,” Johnston said in February 2023. She continued, “That’s not what I’m here to do. But we can all agree on fiscal responsibility.”
The potential challenge to Ogles comes despite the incumbent receiving endorsements from both Trump and the Republican Liberty Caucus, with the former president noting Ogles’ own endorsement of his 2024 presidential campaign.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Courtney Johnston” by Courtney Johnston – Metro Councilwoman – District 26. Photo “Chloe Akers” by Chloe Akers.
Are they going to be pedos, too?
These people are ghouls. Infanticide is a high holy sacrament to these sickos.
The devil wears Prada – in the flesh.
The very next time a political insider tells you that we need to find common ground with the looney left. Remind them that the left have moved the middle so far to the left that simply wanting liberty and freedom results in political persecution and prosecution. This is not a Republican or Democrat thing. It’s a basic understanding of our founding principals thing.