A super PAC backed by a billionaire Democratic donor is spending millions to unseat Representative Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican and close ally of President Donald Trump, in the state's Fifth Congressional District primary.
The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition super PAC, a clean energy group, has poured roughly $1.3 million into opposing Ogles and supporting his Republican challenger, Charlie Hatcher, Tennessee's former agriculture commissioner. Federal Election Commission records also show the group recently bought another $700,000 in advertising, bringing its total involvement in the race to about $2 million.
The PAC has raised $6.7 million this year, with most of that money coming from Chris Larsen, the California-based billionaire chairman of Ripple, a financial technology company that offers crypto solutions for businesses. Larsen has donated $6 million to the group since February 2026, including a $5 million contribution that ranks as his second-largest single political donation. His largest was a $5,444,975 gift to Future Forward PAC in 2024, a group that supported Kamala Harris's presidential campaign.
Larsen has also given more than $1 million to the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, more than $1 million combined to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and more than $300,000 in support of Representative Nancy Pelosi, according to the filings.
Ogles, a member of the fiscally conservative House Freedom Caucus, said the outside money is an attempt to protect renewable energy subsidies that companies have relied on for years. «When you have a group spending roughly $2 million in a Republican primary, that tells you how much money they're making off of government subsidies, and they're upset that the government welfare has been taken away from them,» he said.
The congressman has been one of the most outspoken Republicans calling for a reversal of energy initiatives approved under President Joe Biden, including clean energy subsidies in Biden's Infrastructure and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Ogles also said his closeness to Trump and his willingness to speak plainly on energy issues have made him a target. «It's because I'm close to the president. It is because I am outspoken. And quite frankly, it is because I speak plainly on these issues,» he said.
Trump has endorsed Ogles and reaffirmed that support ahead of the primary. «Andy will be really enshrined as one of the best congressmen that you'll ever see. He's just fantastic,» Trump said. «Andy has always been there when we needed him and when I needed him. He's been a great help. He's been a source of inspiration to a lot of people in Congress.»
Tom Matzzie, the PAC's executive chairman and the CEO of solar energy company CleanChoice Energy, said the group intends to make an example of Ogles. «Our campaign is here to show that politicians who oppose clean energy do so at their own political peril. Andy Ogles is next,» Matzzie said in a statement.
Ogles dismissed the idea that his positions are out of step with Republican voters and accused the group of trying to buy a seat that energy interests can control. «If trying to build an energy sector that is self-reliant, because it's a national security issue, makes me an extremist, then so be it,» he said.
He defended an all-of-the-above energy policy and said the government should not pick winners and losers in the energy market. «I'm not against solar. We have a farm. I've got a big shop. You know, I've contemplated putting solar on my shop to help to run my farm. But I don't want a government subsidy to make it work. I don't need a government subsidy to pay for it,» Ogles said.
He added that his record reflects conservative priorities at a time when the national debt is approaching $40 trillion. «Look, at the end of the day, you know, I voted for conservative policies and that's what America wants right now. We're barreling towards $40 trillion in debt,» he said.
Larsen is described in an online biography as an angel investor and climate philanthropist who has made climate change his top priority. He founded the Larsen Lam Climate Change Foundation in 2021, later renamed the Clean Break Fund, to guide his climate giving, and he is an early investor in climate technology companies and climate funds. His philanthropic priorities include the climate-driven home insurance crisis, making climate change a bipartisan issue and carbon dioxide removal.
The Tennessee primary is scheduled for Thursday, August 6.
