Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) blamed his primary loss on a flood of outside spending, singling out a clean energy group that dumped millions into the race and arguing that the “radical left successfully employed a strategy to influence” the outcome.
“Republicans across the country should take notice,” Ogles told the Washington Examiner in a text message. “If the Left can spend millions to meddle in Republican primaries in Tennessee, they’ll do it in every red state where they think they can buy the outcome.”
The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC spent $2 million to oust Ogles in Tennessee’s 5th District, massively outspending both Ogles and his opponent, former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher.
Hatcher spent $615,000 in his bid to unseat Ogles, while the incumbent spent $617,000, according to the candidates’ latest campaign filings.
The spending against Ogles by the green energy group comes after he, alongside his colleagues in the House Freedom Caucus, pushed GOP leadership for a shorter phaseout of renewable energy tax credits during negotiations in Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill.
“Tennessee’s 5th District just proved once again that standing in the way of America’s energy future comes with a hefty political price,” the chairman of the PAC, Tom Matzzie, said in a statement. “This is our second upset in as many primaries — first Chip Roy, now Andy Ogles – and we will continue to punish members of either party who want to play politics with American jobs, energy security, and utility prices. The entire map is in play and we will take this fight across the country through November.”
Notably, the group’s ads did not focus on renewable energy issues, instead dinging Ogles for missing votes and calling him a “show horse” while painting Hatcher as a workhorse. A review of Ogles’s voting history by the Washington Examiner showed he did not cast a vote 53 times this session.
The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC similarly spent against Ogles’s fellow HFC members, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) in his failed attorney general bid and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) in his unsuccessful governorship bid.
The green energy PAC is primarily bankrolled by California-based billionaire Chris Larsen, who is the chairman of the crypto company Ripple. Larsen contributed $6 million of Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC’s $6.8 million war chest.
Still, while outside spending played a significant role in Ogles’s primary loss, other factors were at play in his unsuccessful primary bid, with a Republican operative telling the Washington Examiner that there were “no surprises” regarding the outcome of the race.
Redistricting left Ogles in largely unfamiliar territory, after the GOP legislature redrew his district to pull in parts of the old 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th districts. The new 5th District, which stretches from Memphis, along the Mississippi River to the Kentucky border before dipping into Middle Tennessee, retained just 17% of the previous iteration, which included parts of Nashville and was concentrated in the central part of the state, according to Inside Elections.
“He had no money,” the Republican operative explained in a text message. “Outside $ buried him. Most of the district was so new so to him your typical incumbency advantage was essentially non existent.”
Ogles ended the primary with just $58,000 cash on hand, and the GOP operative pointed to Ogles himself as a factor in the outcome, saying the incumbent did not “take the race seriously.”
“Everyone kinda saw the writing on the wall,” the operative said.
Ogles disagreed with the sentiment that he did not take the primary seriously, saying he was in “every county at least twice while still making votes in DC.”
“I attended virtually all of the Reagan Day dinners, attended festivals etc. and cancelled a scheduled [congressional delegation] to work the district,” Ogles said.
He noted that Hatcher, whom he described as a “good man,” had a lot of existing connections in the rural district from his time in public service in Tennessee.
The Tennessee lawmaker is the second candidate backed by President Donald Trump to lose a primary election this week, with Amir Hassan, a Navy veteran and former law enforcement officer, losing his Michigan primary.
On Ogles’s loss, Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social that he “remained loyal” to the House incumbent “even though he had virtually no chance of winning, and was running against a Great ‘Trump’ Candidate, and former Agricultural Commissioner of Tennessee, named Charlie Hatcher.”
TRUMP-BACKED ANDY OGLES LOSES GOP PRIMARY FOR TENNESSEE HOUSE SEAT
Ogles told the Washington Examiner that while the outcome was not what he hoped, “Charlie is a good man and I will do whatever I can to help him be successful.”
The Tennessee Republican said he has talked with Hatcher twice, having spoken Thursday night and Friday morning over text, since the primary result, and that he has offered to help Hatcher during his campaign and freshman orientation after the election.
“I’ll do whatever I can to [ensure] his success,” Ogles said.
When asked whether he would be interested in getting appointed to Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) seat should she win the governorship, or if he plans to mount a comeback bid for his House seat, Ogles wrote he had “no plans to run right now” and that he was “Focused on helping the Speaker hold the House.”