Spending in Lundberg-Harshbarger race nears $2 million as Election Day approaches

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — With early voting winding down and Election Day looming, spending in the Tennessee Senate District 4 Republican primary race between Sen. Jon Lundberg and Bobby Harshbarger has nearly reached $2 million.

While the latest campaign finance reports show the two candidates have spent a combined $819,497 since mid-January, the lion’s share of the spending has come from political action committees (PACs), which have spent more than $1 million combined.

The amount spent so far may not be all that surprising to some District 4 voters who have been bombarded with political text messages and mailers over the past few months. While some of the mailers came from the candidates themselves, many were paid for by the political action committees supporting them.

Candidate Finances

Reports show that since mid-January, the two-term incumbent Lundberg outspent Harshbarger, the son of Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger. Lundberg reported $442,886 in disbursements between Jan. 16 and July 22 while Harshbarger’s campaign reported $376,611.

But during the same period, Harshbarger outraised Lundberg by over 20% with $403,918 in total receipts. A majority of that came from Harshbarger himself, who loaned $380,000 to his campaign in separate loans. The remaining $23,918 came from 27 campaign donations. Aside from a $4,500 donation from the Tennessee Firearms Association’s PAC, Harshbarger’s contributions came from individuals.

All of Lundberg’s $327,581 in receipts were from 257 donations to his campaign. His funding sources included a mix of political action committees, other elected officials, and private donors, including donations from many prominent Republicans such as former Gov. Bill Haslam, former Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, and former Congressman Phil Roe. His private donors included several Tri-Cities business leaders such as Meade Tractor president Chuck Meade, Landair Transport founder Scott Niswonger, and Food City President and CEO Steve Smith.

As of July 22, Harshbarger’s team reported having $27,306 on hand and Lundberg’s campaign reported $70,113 on hand.

PACs

Most of the spending in the District 4 race has been done by PACs not affiliated with either candidate. In Tennessee, PACs are required to disclose how much they spend supporting or opposing a candidate.

Three PACs connected to Republicans in the General Assembly have spent nearly $765,000 alone in support of Lundberg, including $344,527 by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally’s PAC, MCPAC; $228,700 by the Senate Republican Caucus; and $191,718 by Senate Majority Jack Johnson’s PAC, JACK-PAC.

Lundberg, who chairs the Senate Education Committee and supported the governor’s school voucher plan, has also received indirect support from education-related PACs. Team Kid PAC , the political spending arm of the pro-charter school group Tennesseans for Student Success , has reported $84,604 in spending and the pro-voucher Tennessee Federation for Children PAC has reported $76,711 in spending in the District 4 race.

The Bristol Republican has also received help from Americans for Prosperity Action PAC to the tune of $65,734.

Meanwhile, Harshbarger has received support from East Tennessee Conservatives PAC, which reported $89,506 in expenditures through June 30 but hasn’t posted its report covering July 1–22, which was due Thursday.

Since East Tennessee Conservatives PAC was formed last year, it has reported only two funding sources: $200,000 from Great America Coalition of Washington D.C. and $95,000 from American Policy Coalition Inc. of Alexandria, Virginia.

Most of the spending by PACs has gone towards advertisements, including TV ads and mailers.

Early voting ends on Friday and Election Day is Aug. 1.

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