Former TN Democratic Party treasurer sues party for $1M after being removed for residency dispute

The former treasurer of the Tennessee Democratic Party has sued the party and its leadership, alleging they falsely accused her of not living in the state to justify her termination. 

A lawyer for Carol Abney alleged in a legal complaint that Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Rachel Campbell engineered her removal after Abney repeatedly sought to impose stricter financial controls on the party’s spending. 

Abney, a CPA,  became treasurer of the party in 2022, right as the party faced a Federal Election Commission audit that found multiple spending violations during the 2016 election cycle. 

Her lawyer alleges in the complaint that Campbell resisted multiple efforts by Abney to collect receipts to document that party officials were not using funds for personal purposes, and to hire a firm to conduct an audit required by the party’s bylaws. 

Abney is from Celina, a small Tennessee town near the state’s border with Kentucky, where her husband is from. State Democratic Party officials alleged that she lived in Kentucky with him when they removed her from her position in March 2026. 

Abney’s lawyers disputed this in the complaint and said since 2016 she’s lived in an apartment next to and then above the building where her accounting firm and her husband’s business are located in Celina.

In its removal process, the party accused her of “voter fraud,” according to Abney’s legal complaint;  she says in her suit she was never given the chance to bring any witnesses on her behalf. Abney is still registered to vote in Celina and remains on the 2026 ballot to be elected as a Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee member for the district that includes Celina. 

Abney is seeking $1 million in damages. 

The lawsuit