U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has disbursed more than $6 million across three political accounts so far in 2025, spending down balances ahead of her return to state politics.
A small portion of this money includes transfers between accounts, which include two PACs — Blackburn’s Tennessee Victory Fund and the Making A Responsible Stand for Households in America (MARSHA) PAC — and her principal Senate campaign committee Marsha for Senate. In all, Blackburn’s totals ended about $750,000 shy of where they started across all three accounts so far this year.Â
Blackburn, now shifting focus from D.C. toward a recently announced 2026 gubernatorial run in Tennessee, must navigate different campaign finance rules governing federal and state races. Each PAC, as well as her Senate finance account, has slightly different campaign finance restrictions and different purposes, with money frequently moving between all three.
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Midyear reports show that Blackburn has spent her ample Senate fundraising dollars around the state. Her leadership PAC cut a flurry of checks — $77,298 in July alone — to local groups, including 16 county Republican parties, just before she announced a run to succeed Gov. Bill Lee. More than a dozen other county parties received checks this year, as did sitting state Sens. Jack Johnson, Bo Watson, Brent Taylor, Adam Lowe and Mark Pody, and state Reps. Rick Scarborough and Mark Cochran — all Republicans.
Digital ads and fundraising made up more than $2 million of Blackburn's spending. Consultants are also big beneficiaries of the spending spree, topped by Ward Baker’s The Baker Group, which received more than $400,000 in consulting fees across all three accounts. Baker is a longtime fixture in the national GOP and helped Blackburn first win her senate seat in 2018.
Blackburn’s Senate account still had $4.4 million in cash at the beginning of July. The Tennessee Victory Fund reported $371,000 and the MARSHA PAC had $156,344.36, giving the senator almost $5 million in the bank absent any new fundraising.
