Federal Election Commission (FEC) documents confirm Randy Stamps is the treasurer for the Conservatives with Character super PAC, which so far has reportedly spent at least $140,000 on ads targeting Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05).
Stamps’ involvement in an effort which could benefit the only Republican to challenge Ogles, Metro Nashville Council Member Courtney Johnston, comes after he backed Ogles’ previous political opponent, former Tennessee House Representative Beth Harwell, in 2022.
Ogles won his 2022 primary election against Harwell and nine other candidates with 35.4 percent of the vote, while Harwell came in second with 24.9 percent.
After Harwell lost the primary contest, Stamps (pictured above) later endorsed Tennessee State Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville), the Democratic candidate who opposed Ogles in 2022, in a now-deleted post to the social media platform X.
During that election, Campbell emphasized her support for abortion, claiming Tennessee enforces “a law that says women and girls are not allowed to control their own future.”
Campbell would introduce 17 gun control bills in the General Assembly the next year, including a red flag law.
According to NewsChannel 5, Stamps in the deleted post described Ogles as “an angry, narrow-minded political pawn,” and claimed Campbell’s “temperament and intellect are what is needed in our Congress today.”
In an additional statement to the outlet, Stamps said at the time, “I am very proud of the decision I made to endorse Senator Campbell. I have received a tremendous amount of positive feedback. If I have created more interest in her race, that is a good thing.”
While Stamps deleted his original post from social media, a second post including the NewsChannel 5 article remained online at press time.
#TN #CD5 @Campbell4TN Lifelong Republican endorses a Democrat in the 5th Congressional Race https://t.co/CHMv8GMKY7 #Vote #Now !
— Randy Stamps (@randystamps) October 25, 2022
Stamps represented Tennessee’s 45th District as a Republican from 1988 through 1998, served as the political director for the Tennessee Republican Party from 2003 to 2009, and joined the Tennessee State Employees Association in 2014.
Full details regarding funds for Conservatives with Character remain unclear, as the organization gave notice to the FEC in June that it intended to file its reports quarterly. Its next report will be due on July 15. The primary election will occur on August 1.
In addition to the outside spending, Johnston has reportedly raised $700,000 since she declared her candidacy in April.
Johnston also stands to benefit from The Best of Tennessee, which is comprised of three strategically linked political organizations that its co-founder Chloe Akers predicted would raise up to $7 million over the 2024 election cycle.
The other co-founder of The Best of Tennessee is Kim Kaegi, a seasoned political fundraiser who is reported to serve as a fundraiser for Johnston’s campaign for U.S. House.
While there has been no polling for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional district, Ogles recently won the straw poll at the Davidson County Republican Party’s annual picnic, securing 144 votes compared to Johnston’s 48.
Ogles is the only member of the House Freedom Caucus who also boasts a 100 percent rating on the Heritage Action Scorecard. In 2023, the Republican Liberty Caucus named him one of the Top Defenders of Liberty, and it has since endorsed him for reelection.
In May 2023, former President Donald Trump also endorsed his campaign for reelection, declaring, “Congressman Andy Ogles is a fantastic Representative for the incredible people of Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.”
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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 “Randy Stamps” by TNVol4Life. CC BY-SA 4.0. Background Photo “Tennessee Capitol” by Andre Porter (imagN Images). CC BY-SA 3.0.
