Campaign contribution limits could be lifted for political parties, caucus PACs

A bill in the Tennessee legislature would remove limits on fundraising for political parties and caucuses. (Photo illustration: Getty Images)

Smarting from a barrage of dark money that took out two Senate incumbents in 2024, lawmakers are set to consider eliminating campaign contribution limits for political parties and party caucuses.

Sen. Richard Briggs, a Knoxville Republican, told the Tennessee Lookout he is sponsoring Senate Bill 229 to create more equity after out-of-state political action committees spent heavily to defeat incumbent Sens. Frank Niceley and Jon Lundberg last August. Rep. Tim Hicks of Gray in East Tennessee is carrying the House version of the bill.

Niceley lost to first-term Sen. Jessie Seal, who received the backing of the School Freedom Fund but still voted against the governor’s private-school voucher bill, and Lundberg was defeated by first-term Sen. Bobby Harshbarger, whose candidacy was bolstered by two groups, including the American Policy Coalition, that poured $600,000 worth of dark money into the race.

“The Senate Republican Caucus got outspent 50 times what we could spend,” Briggs said. “It could have been more.”

Despite that backing, Harshbarger also opposed the voucher bill, which Gov. Bill Lee signed into law last week.

The Harshbarger-Lundberg election remains under investigation by the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, which subpoenaed the agents of the American Policy Coalition to determine whether it coordinated illegally with Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger’s campaign through independent expenditures. Thomas Datwyler of Wisconsin is treasurer of both groups, and the congresswoman is Harshbarger’s mother.

A pro-voucher political action committee also spent nearly $1 million backing new Rep. Lee Reeves as he defeated County Commissioner Brian Beathard by 95 votes in the Williamson County District 65 House race.

Dark money groups, which don’t reveal their donors, have no limits as long as they make independent contributions without coordinating with campaigns. 

State law, though, limits contributions from political party and caucus PACs in 2025-26 to $511,800 for statewide candidates such as governor, $81,800 for state Senate races, $38,300 for state House races and $41,100 for local candidates. Other PACs are limited to $15,400 for statewide races, $30,800 for Senate candidates, $15,400 for House candidates and $10,100 for local candidates. All of those reflect increases from previous years.

The legislation, which is recommended by the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, wouldn’t affect leadership political action committees such as those controlled by the House and Senate speakers.

Bill Young, executive director of the bureau, said the change is designed to clear up confusion surrounding campaign contributions.

“The reason is that parties exist for one reason, to help the candidates,” Young said. “They ought to be able to coordinate.”

Dark-money groups can spend unlimited amounts of money because of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which found that laws restricting corporate political spending violate the right to free speech.

Tennessee’s House and Senate Republican caucuses hold supermajorities and are used as money-raising machines to back candidates, often raising funds from their own members.

The House Republican Caucus raised $960,350 in late 2023 and 2024 in advance of the November election and spent more than $1 million. The Senate Republican Caucus brought in $1.05 million during the latter part of 2023 and 2024, spent more than $1.1 million and had $665,761 million in the bank at the end of this January. 

The House Democratic Caucus, which has 24 members, brought in nearly $950,000 from late 2023 through 2024 and spent $934,000. The Senate Democratic Caucus, which has six members, raised $229,000 in late 2023 and 2024 and spent $194,560.

The bill is to be considered Tuesday in the Senate State and Local Government, which is chaired by Briggs.

Young said the bureau considered reworking contribution limits but then decided to ask the legislature to eliminate them.

“Until Citizens United goes away, it really makes no sense,” he said.

In addition to lifting those limits, the bureau is asking the legislature to shift a $100 professional privilege tax paid by lobbyists straight to the bureau from the state’s general fund. The bureau has $2 million in reserve but needs a total of $3 million to install a new campaign finance filing system and website and $800,000 to run it, according to Young.

Another provision in the bill makes complaints filed with the Ethics Commission a matter of public record. Complaints filed against candidates 30 days before an election would not be subject to the Public Records Act.

A complaint filed last year against Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds would have been confidential until resolved if not made public by the complainant, Democratic state Rep. Caleb Hemmer. Reynolds traveled to two out-of-state education conferences paid for by her former employer, the pro-voucher group ExcelInEd, which hires a lobbyist to work on education issues in Tennessee and, thus, is prohibited from providing those types of gifts. Reynolds ultimately repaid the group.