{"id":22082,"date":"2026-07-30T14:05:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22082"},"modified":"2026-07-30T14:05:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:05:38","slug":"inside-the-2-million-effort-to-oust-rep-andy-ogles-in-his-republican-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22082","title":{"rendered":"Inside the $2 million effort to oust Rep. Andy Ogles in his Republican primary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/j9t733GtoJWUi0H3ngN9Gg2Vgs0=\/0x0:4244x2387\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/29\/1785365838642.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A super PAC that has invested millions to unseat Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/nashville\/2026\/07\/20\/betting-odds-show-a-tightening-race-between-ogles-and-hatcher\" target=\"_blank\">Andy Ogles<\/a> (R-Tenn.) is putting another $700,000 behind his GOP primary challenger in the final week of the campaign, Axios has learned.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>Ogles was already facing one his most perilous reelection battle to date, with Democrats <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/nashville\/2026\/04\/23\/house-majority-pac-spend-unseating-ogles\" target=\"_blank\">making him one of their top targets<\/a> in November. But first he has to get the nomination, which is not a done deal.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, the clean-energy aligned super PAC working to primary Ogles, commissioned a poll that has him leading his challenger, Charlie Hatcher, by just four percentage points.<\/li>\n<li>The survey, first shared with Axios, had Ogles at 37% and Hatcher at 33% among 400 likely Republican primary voters interviewed between July 26 and 28. <\/li>\n<li>It was conducted by Tusk Strategies and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 5 percentage points. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving the news: <\/strong>ITC is &#8220;committing an additional $700,000 in paid media for the final week of the race&#8221; on top of the $1.3 million it had already spent as of Wednesday, according to a press release first shared with Axios.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Renewable energy executives are using the super PAC to punish Republican lawmakers for anti-wind and solar policies, such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/pro\/energy-policy\/2025\/07\/02\/house-gop-ira-cuts\" target=\"_blank\">rollback of clean energy tax credits<\/a> in the One Big, Beautiful Bill.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Our campaign is here to show that politicians who oppose clean energy do so at their own political peril. Andy Ogles is next,&#8221; the group&#8217;s chair, Tom Matzzie, who is also CEO of solar company CleanChoice Energy, said in a statement.<\/li>\n<li>The group spent heavily to defeat Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) in the GOP primary runoff for Texas attorney general. Roy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/austin\/2026\/05\/27\/texas-attorney-general-results\" target=\"_blank\">lost to Mayes Middleton<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The other side: <\/strong>&#8220;As the Trump-endorsed candidate in this race, I am being targeted by left-wing liberals from California because I am one of President Trump&#8217;s closest allies,&#8221; Ogles said in a statement to Axios.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;They want to stop Trump-endorsed MAGA warriors from delivering for the American people. This desperate attempt to SILENCE me is futile. I will not be silent and I will never stop fighting to put America First.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>In addition to its spending against Roy and Ogles, the group spent $125,000 to support Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), who voted for the OBBB but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/pro\/energy-policy\/2025\/05\/08\/ira-backing-gopers-very-encouraged-by-tax-credits-fate\" target=\"_blank\">fought to preserve the IRA tax credits<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>State of play: <\/strong>Despite Ogles&#8217; incumbency and crucial <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/nashville\/2026\/07\/28\/trump-to-appear-at-tele-rally-for-ogles\" target=\"_blank\">support from Trump<\/a>, Hatcher has some things going for him.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A former Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture, Hatcher is backed by some party heavyweights, including former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and former Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.<\/li>\n<li>Ogles is also running in drastically new territory after Tennessee&#8217;s mid-cycle redistricting, which saw his district take in more rural, agricultural areas that Hatcher&#8217;s camp believes will favor them.<\/li>\n<li>Hatcher campaign consultant John Newman told Axios his candidate &#8220;relates to folks in the newly drawn congressional district much better than the current occupant.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>By the numbers: <\/strong>ITC has also swamped Ogles&#8217; biggest backer, the House Freedom Fund, which has spent just under $500,000 on the race.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hatcher has also out-raised the incumbent, bringing in $720,000 in contributions as of July 17 and coming into the final stretch with $105,000 in cash-on-hand.<\/li>\n<li>Ogles raised $610,000 and had just $58,000 in cash by the same point, but his campaign owed about $70,000 in debt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Between the lines: <\/strong>Ogles has also been the subject of significant public controversy in recent years.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He is under investigation by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/nashville\/2025\/01\/02\/andy-ogles-house-ethics-investigation-campaign-finance\" target=\"_blank\">House Ethics Committee<\/a> for his campaign finances and previously faced an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/nashville\/2024\/09\/04\/andy-ogles-fbi-trump-campaign-finance\" target=\"_blank\">Justice Department probe<\/a> that was shut down after Trump returned to office last year. <\/li>\n<li>He has also repeatedly drawn <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/03\/09\/andy-ogles-muslim-post-democrats-republican-react\" target=\"_blank\">condemnation from colleagues<\/a> for making Islamophobic public statements, such as writing on social media in March that &#8220;Muslims don&#8217;t belong in American society.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Yes, but: <\/strong>Ogles still has incumbency and Trump, which are highly significant factors in most Republican primaries.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The president held a tele-rally on Ogles&#8217; behalf Tuesday, urging listeners to &#8220;get out and vote for Andy Ogles,&#8221; who he said has &#8220;been a friend of mine.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Tennessee Republicans say Ogles is in real danger but probably still the favorite, with one U.S. House member from the state telling Axios, &#8220;If he works he wins.&#8221; <\/li>\n<li>But, this lawmaker warned, Ogles &#8220;still could lose [the] general&#8221; in November.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A super PAC that has invested millions to unseat Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) is putting another $700,000 behind his GOP primary challenger in the final week of the campaign, Axios has learned. Why it matters: Ogles was already facing one his most perilous reelection battle to date, with Democrats making him one of their top&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/j9t733GtoJWUi0H3ngN9Gg2Vgs0=\/0x0:4244x2387\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/29\/1785365838642.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}