Pro-private school voucher Club for Growth donates $3M to PAC backing Blackburn for governor

Starting in early June, two advertisements went on Tennessee’s airwaves in support of U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s bid for governor.

The first showed all the times President Donald Trump praised Blackburn, implying that even without an official endorsement, he backs the 74-year-old Senator. The second attacked one of her rivals, 61-year-old U.S. Rep. John Rose, for not being sufficiently anti-China.

The advertisements are being run by the Tennessee Freedom Fund political action committee, PAC, registered to David McIntosh, president of the national conservative group Club for Growth.

The PAC raised $4.6 million from April to June, with Club for Growth contributing $3 million from another of its affiliated PACs, School Freedom Fund. The School Freedom Fund PAC is registered to Club for Growth’s chief financial officer and has around $15 million this election cycle, all from billionaire Jeff Yass.

Yass is most notably an investor in the Chinese-based social media app TikTok and a significant backer of Trump’s 2024 campaign. Blackburn has been critical of the app in the past, opposing the company opening an office in Nashville.

Billionaire Jeff Yass gives $1M to PAC supporting Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s gubernatorial campaign

Yass also donated $1 million to Team Tennessee, a PAC affiliated with Blackburn. Between PAC spending and Blackburn’s campaign account, Yass is Blackburn’s largest single backer. He also first donated to Blackburn during her 2002 campaign for House and Club for Growth helped boost her during her 2018 campaign for U.S. Senate.

Both advertisements are part of the group’s strategy to boost pro-private-school-voucher candidates and attack their opponents, regardless of whether their attacks have any basis in reality.

Trump hasn’t endorsed a candidate in Tennessee’s governor race, even as Blackburn’s campaign website is covered with images of her and the president. In May, Rose released a TV advertisement calling for a state ban on Chinese nationals owning land in Tennessee.

During the 2024 election, Club for Growth also spent over $3 million in state legislative races, running a smear campaign against Republicans who had opposed Gov. Bill Lee’s private school voucher expansion.

After Lee’s plan failed in 2024, it narrowly passed in 2025 with votes from newly elected Club For Growth-backed candidates securing its passage. The group then spent around $380,000 in the 2025 Republican Primary for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional seat, disparaging state Rep. Jody Barrett, who voted against vouchers both years, to ensure he didn’t win the primary.

Among the top primary candidates, Blackburn is the only candidate who is 100% behind expanding private school vouchers, which are currently limited to 35,000 students.

“We must continue to expand school choice programs, like the Education Freedom Scholarships, to make certain that every parent can choose the education for their child that best suits their child’s unique needs,” Blackburn said by email in response to a set of policy questions.

All the donors to Tennessee Freedom Fund

Many of the same people who have given money to the Tennessee Freedom Fund have also donated to Team Tennessee and to Blackburn’s gubernatorial campaign account. The two PACs are allowed to raise unlimited funds and can accept donations directly from corporations, unlike her campaign account.

Blackburn’s campaign account is limited to $10,600 from individuals for the primary and general elections, and $30,800 from PACs. It’s banned from taking donations directly from a company.

FEC filings reveal how Blackburn laid the groundwork for governor campaign without personal fortune

• School Freedom Fund: $3,000,000 total
• Spencer Patton, Patton Logistics president: $250,000
• Payday lender Advance Financial: $150,000 total
• Barney Byrd, Gen Cap America CEO: $100,000
• Daniel Crockett, Franklin Home Mortgage CEO: $100,000
• Joann Hazelwood, Conversion Interactive Agency owner: $100,000
• Willis Johnson, Copart executive: $100,000
• Leigh Shockey, Drexel Chemical CEO: $100,000
• Steven and Kelly Madden, Apex Heritage Group owner: $78,800 combined
• WSWT Political Action Committee: $70,000
• Centene: $50,000
• HyperCountry Entertainment: $50,000
• John Ingram, Ingram Industries CEO: $50,000
• Phillips Infrastructure Corp: $50,000
• Red Apple Development LLC, a company registered to Jonathan and Sherry Hage, the owners of Charter Schools USA and Noble Education: $50,000
• Christopher Redlich, Healing Healthcare chairman: $50,000
• SRM Concrete: $50,000
• David Colquitt: $25,000
• Wilma Jordan, JEGI Leonis: $25,000
• Preakness Holdings: $25,000
• Tim Williams, 21st Mortgage CEO: $25,000
• Dorothy Scarlett: $21,200
• Nelwyn Inman, Baker Donelson attorney: $15,900
• VGW Luckyland Inc.: $15,000
• Lee and Julie Beaman, former owners of Beaman Automotive: $20,000 combined
• Glenn Morris, M&M Industries CEO: $10,000
• Jim and Susan Haslam, owners of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks: $13,800 combined
• Altria Client Services LLC: $5,000
• Asurion: $5,000
• Brightstar Global Solutions Corp: $5,000
• Maximus Inc.: $5,000
• Tennessee Reynolds American Inc. PAC: $5,000
• Vimo Inc.: $2,500