The first quarter 2026 federal fundraising reports at now in and the gap between the haves, who raised serious money (or loaned it to themselves), and have-nots will soon reveal itself in the races to the August primary.
SIXTH DISTRICT. In the 6th District battle for Congress to replace John Rose, who is running for Governor, State Representative Johnny Garrett continues to have the lead in cash on hand before the expected flurry of spending begins in the next few weeks. He reports having $1,429,022.62 cash on hand through March 31, 2026. $900,000 of that has come in the form of Garrett’s loan to his campaign, with $807,664.57 in total contributions to date.
Former Congressman Van Hilleary (and former Rose Chief of Staff) reports $977,774.10 cash on hand, with $1,181.110.72 of that coming from individual contributions.
Garrett’s “burn rate” (spending) has been a bit higher than Hilleary’s, about $273,000 to $203,000 to date, with much of the expenditures by both candidate going to fundraising and consulting expenses.
A third candidate, Jon Henry, reports having $99,748.83 cash on hand, with total contributions of $7,165.84. His FEC online report doesn’t disclose a candidate loan/contribution, but presumably $60,000 of his total receipts came from him. However, the total receipts, expenditures and cash on hand don’t match up based on his reported $17,826.72 in spending. His FEC report also fails to detail his spending. In any event, he lags far behind in funds available to fund media over the next several months.
FIFTH DISTRICT. Congressman Andy Ogles continues to report meager fundraising heading into an expected tough primary and tougher general election in November. Ogles reports cash on hand of just $85,060.94, with remaining debts/loans of $70,368.75. Ogles has raised over $440,000 during this cycle, but has spent almost exactly $400,000.
Ogles’ Republican primary opponent, former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, reports $214,002.42 cash on hand, with total contributions of about $546,000, which includes a candidate contribution of $132,804.39. Will Hatcher dig deeper into his personal funds to increase his media exposure over the next few months?
Meanwhile, Democrat Chaz Molder is sitting on a warchest of nearly $1.3 million waiting for the November general election. The district is still about a Plus 10 GOP advantage, so Molder has an uphill battle, but spending can definitely have an impact.
AROUND THE STATE. 2d District Congressman Tim Burchett continues to raise his profile and travel the state in hopes of gaining Senator Marsha Blackburn’s Senate seat should she win the Governor’s race. Burchett is sitting on over $930,000 cash on hand with no serious reelection opposition. His nearly a million dollars in spending this cycle underlines his increased focus on raising profile and cost of appearing at nearly every GOP gathering in recent months. Is national media profile has also increased dramatically in recent months, as he has become one of the better known and most popular members of Congress in the entire country.
7th District Congressman Matt Van Epps, who won the hotly contested special election race to fill Congressman Mark Green’s seat just a few months ago, faces no serious opposition in retaining that seat in November. He has $135,155.31 cash on hand with debts/loans of slightly over $152,000.00. At this point, he is not focused on fundraising as he is still getting his feet wet in the US house.
NINTH DISTRICT. Democrat Congressman Steve Cohen is facing real primary opposition in Memphis from State Representative Justin “Tennessee Three” Pearson. Cohen has nearly $2 million cash on hand to try to stave off the young upstart. Pearson reports having about $388,000 cash on hand. Race may matter more than money in this race, as white liberal Cohen has continued to represent the majority black district thanks to racially divided primaries in the past.
Another wildcard is the possibility that the US Supreme Court will eliminate the race-based districting set forth under the Voter Rights Act in the next few weeks, giving the Republican, super majority house and Senate in Tennessean opportunity to gerrymander the 9th district in a more favorable way for Republicans. Probably to late for this cycle, but the clock may be ticking moving forward.
Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
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