Club for Growth-backed PAC to spend $3.6M to oust Niceley, Richey, back

School Freedom Fund, a national political action committee, will pour $3.6 million into five Tennessee legislative seats backing pro-voucher candidates, seeking to oust longtime incumbent Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, and oppose Rep. Bryan Richey, who is seeking a state Senate seat in Maryville.

School Freedom Fund is affiliated with the libertarian advocacy group Club for Growth Action, and works to support candidates that support school choice policies, including publicly funded private school vouchers. The PAC spent nearly $4 million on state races in Texas earlier this year, targeting 14 candidates that opposed state funding for private school vouchers, and defeating 10. Other groups, including Americans for Prosperity Action, were also part of that effort.

“You can no longer call yourself a conservative if you oppose school freedom, and you should expect a very expensive primary that you’ll probably lose,” School Freedom Fund President David McIntosh said. “Following the recent failure of bold school freedom legislation in Tennessee because of Republican opposition, School Freedom Fund is making a major investment in five races.”

The group’s $3.6M ad buys will:

“The is the beginning of a school freedom movement putting parents — not bureaucrats — in control of their children’s education,” McIntosh said. “We are looking to replicate our results in the Texas primary where we defeated 10 anti-school freedom incumbents.”

According to Federal Election Commission disclosures, School Freedom Fund is funded significantly by contributions from Jeff Yass, who owns one of Wall Street’s most successful trading firms Susquehanna International. Susquehanna has invested in hundreds of companies globally. One of the company’s most valuable holdings is ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, according to Forbes. Yass has contributed $5 million to the PAC this cycle.

Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com or on X @Vivian_E_Jones.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Club for Growth PAC to spend $3.6M to oust Niceley, Richey

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