What ordinarily might appear as a long-shot effort to topple longtime state Sen. Frank Niceley appears to be gathering steam. The engine pushing on Republican primary challenger Jesse Seal? The School Freedom Fund, a national political action committee funded by the Club for Growth. The group has announced plans to spend $3.6 million to push candidates who support school vouchers — and punish those who don’t.

Niceley and Rep. Bryan Richey, R-Maryville, are on the target list for opposing Gov. Bill Lee’s “Education Freedom Scholarship” proposal that failed spectacularly this year. One Senate Republican characterized the Niceley-Seal contest as “close, but winnable” for either candidate.

The effort against Richey appears to be purely symbolic as the freshman lawmaker hasn’t been visible on the campaign trail and has raised virtually nothing in his bid for the open Senate District 2 seat. While he kept a similarly low profile when he defeated longtime Rep. Bob Ramsey — Niceley’s college roommate — in 2022, Richey was heavily backed by school choice groups’ independent expenditures in that race. Once in the House, Richey appeared to get cold feet about voucher expansion efforts, vocally criticizing Lee’s bill in committee.

Editor’s note: A version of this story first appeared in the July 19 print edition of The Tennessee Journal. Read the full newsletter here.

A check of East Tennessee ad buys indicate the School Freedom Fund has spent north of $300,000 so far, but disclosures on Knoxville television stations don’t break spending down by candidate.

Seal, who lives in New Tazewell, heads up public affairs for Lifeline Ambulance. His second quarter disclosure shows he injected $40,400 in personal funds while raising some $37,000. He begged off an interview this week, saying he was knocking on doors and had a staff meeting. Niceley, whose family runs a specialty agricultural food operation, last reported having nearly $270,000 on hand.

Niceley said he decided over the years that vouchers are “not the way to go,’’ as they would allow parents to send their children to Muslim schools at taxpayers’ expense, as they can in Memphis under a limited voucher law Lee managed to squeeze through the Legislature in 2019. He cited major budget strains on Florida’s budget and Arizona “about to bankrupt” due to costs of its voucher program.

The senator also accused Seal of “trying to run to the right of me and lying to do it.” Moreover, he said, the Club for Growth had broken with Donald Trump. The School Freedom Fund also said it will run ads in support of three candidates for open House seats who have also been endorsed by the governor: Aron Maberry in Montgomery County, Lee Reeves in Williamson County and Jason Emert in Blount County.

Here’s a transcript of the group’s ad attacking Reeves’ rival Brian Beathard:

The last time Biden ran for reelection, Brian Beathard donated to the Democrat Party backing the Obama-Biden ticket. Now that wants us to punch his ticket to Nashville. But he picked our pockets just like Biden. Beathard supported a property tax hike, then levied a massive fee on new houses costing some homeowners thousands. And he’ll keep raising taxes if we send him to Nashville. School Freedom fund is responsible for the content of this ad.

Beathard’s offending donation? Three hundred dollars to the Tennessee Democratic Party. He also gave $400 to the Tennessee Republican Party that November. Beathard’s only other federal political contributions on record are $25 and $200 to the state GOP in 2022 and 2024.

Beathard voted against a property tax hike when the County Commission passed one in 2021. But the ad targets Beathard for voting in favor of a 2011 increase as the county sought to shore up $500 million in debt. The spot also hits Beathard for being on the commission when it voted 19-1 in 2019 in favor of increasing the impact fee on new houses constructed in the county. The money is dedicated to paying for public schools.

Rutherford showdown

Republican Rep. Robert Stevens of Smyrna is seeking a second term in District 13 in Rutherford County. But first he would have to overcome a strong primary challenge from businesswoman and fellow attorney Jami Averwater. Both have prior experience in local government with Stevens having served three terms on the Rutherford County Commission, while Averwater is in her first term on the Murfreesboro City Council.

The similarities end there. Stevens has cited his role in “leading the fight” against illegal immigration, crime and “the radical Biden agenda at the state level.” Averwater, who owns a title company, has said she wants to promote conservative economic policies and “family values” at the state level while working to protect small businesses.

Stevens has persistently sought to put Averwater on defense through direct mail and in a TV ad for what he says was her advising illegal immigrants in Spanish. He sought to do the same during a recent debate. Averwater called the allegations “full of lies,” the Daily News Journal reported. While the mailer accuses her of backing radical leftist organizations, Averwater said her role as a volunteer while attending law school at Belmont University involved assisting legal immigrants who wanted to become American citizens. “I don’t regret that,” she said.

Averwater called it “embarrassing” that Stevens has “spent a lot more time filing complaints against local elected officials than he did speaking for the people of Rutherford County.” Stevens recently asked the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance to audit campaign donations involving Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland, Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed and the Tennesseans for Greater Accountability PAC. The initial complaint came after Reed was pressing for a March referendum asking Smyrna voters if the Town Council should eliminate its local general sessions court. The judge is Brittany Stevens, the lawmaker’s sister. Seventy-one percent of voters rejected the plan. An Averwater direct mail hit read: “State Representative Robert Stevens is like the Biden crime family. He weaponizes his office to protect his family’s interest.”

Both candidates received and spent about $70,000 in the most recent period. Stevens at the end of June loaned his campaign another $30,000. His biggest donors include the PACs of Lamberth ($5,000), Team Kid ($3,000), Tennessee Bankers Association ($3,000) and Sexton ($2,500). Averwater’s largest contributions included $3,000 from the Design Stone Expo and $1,800 each from developer Amnon Shreibman and SRM Concrete owner Jeffrey Hollingshead.

Money back

When state Rep. Justin Jones parted ways with his treasurer on April 17 surrounding a dispute about whether he had submitted the requisite 25 valid signatures on his petition to run for a second term in District 52, he lost the authority to raise money until he named a new one on May 1. But the Nashville Banner reported Jones received more than $3,700 in the interim, which he was now working to return to donors.

I pledge allegiance

The Williamson County Republican Party has been sending mailers to people who voted in the GOP presidential primary in March noting they had done so “after voting in one or more of the last six state and county primaries for another party.” The flip side of the card includes the language of signs that Republicans have required to be posted at polling places stating that it’s a crime to vote in a primary “without being a bona fide member of or affiliated with that political party, or to declare allegiance to that party without the intent to affiliate.”

Former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe, a Republican, developer Phil Lawson, who has given $260,100 to the state Democratic Party in the last two years, and others have sued to block the state law requiring “bona fide” signs at voting locations. They have re-filed their case after the initial one was thrown out on the basis that the defendants, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Secretary of State Tre Hargett, don’t have the authority to enforce state laws. The new lawsuit also named the state’s district attorneys general as defendants. Skrmetti argues the plaintiffs still don’t have standing to sue.

There is some irony in the Williamson County GOP instructing voters on bona fide standards when the local party was heavily criticized for bending those same rules during a recent leadership election.

Safer Tennessee donations 

Advocates responded with outrage to reports that Voices for a Safer Tennessee, a group advocating for stricter gun laws in the wake of last year’s mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, gave three-quarters of its $55,000 in donations to Republicans who have rejected efforts to pass legislation aimed at keeping firearms out of the hands of people found to be a danger to themselves or others.

Senate Speaker Randy McNally’s PAC received $15,000 and House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s got $10,000. Other GOP lawmakers on Safer TN’s list were Senate Caucus Chair Ken Yager ($5,000), House Majority Leader William Lamberth ($5,000), House Civil Justice Chair Andrew Farmer ($2,500), House Education Administration Chair Mark White ($2,500) and Rep. John Gillespie ($2,500). The top donations to Democrats were $2,500 each to House Minority Leader Karen Camper, Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Raumesh Akbari and Rep. Bob Freeman.

Lamberth said “the hostility directed at Voices for a Safer Tennessee by leftist keyboard activists is shameful.” The group issued a statement underscoring its commitment to bipartisan solutions while navigating “the realities of our political landscape.” Safer TN cited this year’s enactment of a law banning the sale of firearms to habitual juvenile offenders until they turn 25, and another requiring confinement in a mental institution for defendants found not competent to stand trial.

LGBTQ schools?

At a candidate forum in Warren County, Rep. Paul Sherrell expressed opposition to Gov. Bill Lee’s statewide school voucher proposal because “we don’t want our money going to any kind of LGBTQ school or Muslim school.”

Sherrell’s concerns apparently didn’t apply when he voted for creating the voucher pilot program for students in Nashville and Memphis in 2019 and in favor of last year’s expansion to Hamilton County. Sherrell’s main GOP primary opponent, White County Commissioner Robert McCormick, said he also opposes vouchers.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee lavished praise on state Sen. Jon Lundberg of Bristol during a trip Friday to Church Hill in Northeast Tennessee, reemphasizing his support for the senator despite former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of challenger Bobby Harshbarger of Kingsport.

“Sen. Lundberg has been an incredibly powerful senator for his district,” Lee said, adding Lundberg “represents the community well.”

“That’s why I’m standing with him today, that’s why we’ve been touring,” Lee said. 

WJHL-TV asked Lee whether his endorsement put him in conflict with former President Donald Trump, who the governor spoke in favor of as recently as last week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“I just know how important it is to have the right person in the seat,” Lee responded. “In the same way that President Trump is most concerned about what happens in Congress, I’m most concerned about what happens in Tennessee.” 

Trump stated in his endorsement that “Bobby’s mother is the GREAT Congresswoman from Tennessee, Diana Harshbarger. He and his family are fierce advocates for our Movement to Make America Great Again and, therefore, Bobby Harshbarger has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”

Early voting for the Aug. 1 primary runs through Saturday.