How $4.8 million from Blackburn's Senate account reached primaries in Oklahoma and Tennessee

NASHVILLE — Campaign finance disclosures for U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., suggest money she raised for her Senate campaign has trickled into the governor's race in Oklahoma, and potentially, Blackburn's own contest for governor in Tennessee. Both Tennessee and Oklahoma have laws barring federally-raised dollars from being directly spent on state campaigns. The dates and dollar amounts listed in campaign finance disclosures suggest $4.8 million Blackburn drained from her senate campaign account went through a network of closely-aligned federal and state political action committees. It appears the money could have eventually ended up as attack ads in the Republican gubernatorial primaries in either Oklahoma and Tennessee. The Marsha Blackburn for Governor Campaign did not respond to Six Rivers Media's request for comment. The Blackburn Tennessee Victory fund — a joint fundraising committee including Blackburn's leadership PAC, her senate campaign and a federal arm of the Tennessee Republican party — has raised over $9 million this election cycle. That's despite the fact that Blackburn is not running for federal office this year and would not be up for reelection until 2031. She announced her candidacy for governor in August of 2025. Blackburn transferred $4.8 million from her Senate account. Days later, that money was used to fund advertisements in an Oklahoma primary. BEN SMITH/SIX RIVERS MEDIA In May of this year, Blackburn's dormant senate campaign sent $4.8 million to Club for Growth Action, a well-funded federal conservative super political action committee. It was the largest single transfer one of Blackburn's congressional campaign accounts has ever made, by multiple millions of dollars. It left Blackburn's senate account with just 8% of the balance it had at the beginning of the election cycle, according to federal disclosures. Three days after receiving Blackburn's donation, Club for Growth sent $1.5 million to School Freedom Fund Oklahoma, a pro-private school voucher PAC that registered with the state only 17 days prior to receiving the infusion. A day after receiving its first first million-dollar infusion, SFF Oklahoma began running ads to oppose Gentner Drummond in the Republican primary for Oklahoma governor. Between then and June 8, Club for Growth would send a combined $3.6 million to SFF Oklahoma. Records do not specify whether this is the same money Blackburn sent to Club for Growth. Drummond and his main opponent, Mike Mazzei, both indicated support for Oklahoma's private school voucher program, but the two differed over whether to allocate taxpayer dollars to religious charter schools. SFF Oklahoma would spend a combined $3.12 million opposing Drummond, according to disclosures. Following a runoff, Drummond ended up losing that race by 0.6% of the vote. Race for Tennessee governor That may seem like the end of the line. But the School Freedom Fund — a federal super PAC with a similar name and the same Washington D.C. address as SFF Oklahoma — donated $4.81 million to the Tennessee Freedom Fund from May 7 to July 7. Though not the exact same figure, it closely resembles the $4.8 million Blackburn originally emptied from her senate campaign account on May 8. The Tennessee Freedom Fund, in turn, ran advertisements supporting Blackburn and opposing her opponent, U.S. Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., in the Republican primary for Tennessee governor. The TFF spent at least $1.74 million on advertising for Blackburn.