Story Highlights
- A clean energy super PAC bankrolled by Democratic billionaire Chris Larsen is spending millions to unseat Rep. Andy Ogles in a GOP primary.
- The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition has raised $6.7 million this cycle and spent nearly $1.7 million targeting Ogles and boosting his Republican challenger.
- Ogles, a House Freedom Caucus member and Trump ally, attributes the opposition spending to his vocal stance against government energy subsidies.
- President Trump has endorsed Ogles, calling him a fantastic congressman and a source of inspiration for conservatives.
What Happened
Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District and a staunch ally of President Trump, is facing an unusual and well-funded outside assault on his re-election bid — one originating not from the Democratic Party’s standard playbook, but from a clean energy super PAC backed almost entirely by a California-based Democratic billionaire.
The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition has poured roughly $1 million into efforts opposing Ogles and supporting his Republican primary challenger, Charlie Hatcher, Tennessee’s former commissioner of agriculture. The group recently purchased an additional $700,000 worth of advertising, bringing its total spending in the race to nearly $1.7 million. FEC filings reviewed by Fox News Digital reveal that the group’s primary financial engine is Chris Larsen, chairman of the financial technology company Ripple and a prominent climate change philanthropist, who has donated $6 million to the super PAC since February 2026.
- Invest in Tomorrow Coalition has raised $6.7 million this election cycle.
- Larsen’s most recent donation of $5 million is his second-largest single political contribution on record.
- Republican challenger Charlie Hatcher, Tennessee’s former agriculture commissioner, is the beneficiary of the PAC’s pro-spending campaign.
- FEC filings confirmed Larsen as the dominant financial force behind the super PAC’s activities.
Why It Matters
The involvement of a deep-pocketed left-wing donor in a Republican congressional primary raises serious questions about the integrity of the democratic process and the lengths to which green energy interests will go to silence conservatives who challenge the subsidy-driven status quo. Ogles has been among the most outspoken members of the House Freedom Caucus in calling for a rollback of government investments in renewable energy — investments that critics argue benefit wealthy insiders rather than everyday Americans.
The congressman’s position is straightforward: when a group spends nearly $2 million in a Republican primary, it signals just how much those involved stand to lose from reduced government handouts. His argument frames the attack not as principled political opposition, but as a financial defense by those who profit from taxpayer-funded green energy programs. The White House has taken notice, with President Trump throwing his full support behind Ogles and praising his record in Congress.
- Conservative voters in Tennessee’s 5th District are being targeted by outside liberal money attempting to shape a GOP primary outcome.
- Ogles’ opposition to energy subsidies directly threatens the financial interests of clean energy investors aligned with Democratic priorities.
- The spending pattern underscores growing alarm among green energy interests over the current administration’s rollback of Biden-era energy policies.
- Trump’s endorsement of Ogles signals that the president views the race as a bellwether for conservative energy policy in Congress.
Political and Public Context
Chris Larsen is no ordinary donor. Beyond his $6 million contribution to the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, his political giving history reflects deep ties to the Democratic establishment. He has donated over $1 million to the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, over $1 million split between the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and more than $300,000 in support of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. His previous political spending also included a donation of more than $5.4 million to Future Forward PAC in 2024, backing Kamala Harris’s failed presidential campaign.
Larsen’s online biography describes him as an angel investor and climate philanthropist who founded the Larsen Lam Climate Change Foundation — later renamed the Clean Break Fund — in 2021. His stated priorities include the climate-driven home insurance crisis and carbon dioxide removal, and he has invested heavily in climate technology companies and funds. The breadth of his political and financial footprint makes his intervention in a Tennessee Republican primary all the more striking — and, critics argue, all the more telling about whose interests are truly at stake.
- Larsen donated more than $5.4 million to Future Forward PAC to support Kamala Harris in 2024.
- He has contributed over $1 million to the Jane Fonda Climate PAC and significant sums to the DSCC and DCCC.
- His Larsen Lam Climate Change Foundation was founded in 2021 and later rebranded as the Clean Break Fund.
- Ogles is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, one of the most fiscally conservative blocs in the Republican conference.
What Happens Next
With President Trump’s endorsement firmly behind him, Ogles enters the final stretch of the primary campaign carrying significant political credibility among conservative voters. The White House’s backing reinforces the message that this race is not merely a local contest but a front line in the broader national debate over energy policy, government spending, and the influence of outside money in American elections. His ability to mobilize Trump supporters in Tennessee’s 5th District will be critical to overcoming the well-funded opposition campaign.
The outcome of this primary will likely be closely watched by both parties as a signal of whether left-aligned money can effectively shape Republican primaries by elevating more moderate challengers. For conservatives, the race represents an opportunity to send a clear message that elected officials who fight government waste and challenge the green energy lobby will be defended — not defeated — by their own voters.
- The Tennessee GOP primary will serve as a test of whether outside Democratic money can flip a conservative seat from within the Republican Party.
- Ogles will need to continue making the case to primary voters that outside interference from liberal billionaires should be rejected at the ballot box.
- Further FEC filings may reveal additional contributions to the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition as the primary approaches.
- The race is expected to draw continued national attention given Trump’s personal endorsement and the scale of outside spending involved.
