Republican senators abandoned Lee Beaman’s bid for a seat on the TVA board this week, leaving the Trump megadonor off its final vote calendar before adjourning for the holidays. Beaman was not among the short list of “holdover” nominees that will be considered in 2026.
Beaman has supported GOP political causes with his checkbook for more than a decade. Donations from Beaman total more than $1.5 million to GOP candidates and committees since 2020, including $250,000 to the Republican National Committee this calendar year and more than $200,000 to sitting Republican senators who passed on his vote.
Republicans sideline Nashville businessman and Trump megadonor Lee Beaman a week after his committee hearing
Senators approved four other Trump-nominated TVA directors but left Beaman’s nomination stuck in the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, where he drew fire from Democrats during a Dec. 3 hearing. Beaman’s lack of relevant utility knowledge, ties to a House ethics investigation into Tennessee's 5th Congressional District Rep. Andy Ogles and varied conflicts of interest apparently proved too much for Republicans, who control the Senate floor and all Senate committees.
Tennessee's Republican U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty described Beaman as an exemplary nominee perfectly suited for the TVA board during introductory remarks at his Dec. 3 hearing. Democratic U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ed Markey of Massachusetts focused on Beaman’s history of conservative partisanship, including co-signing a letter denying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Democrats also pressed Beaman for details about a rental arrangement involving members of Congress — including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Ogles — at his Washington, D.C., townhouse via an intermediary evangelical nonprofit. The nonprofit, Ambassador Services International, is run by Franklin pastor Steve Berger.
Questions also focused on Beaman’s brief tenure as Ogles’ campaign treasurer, a role that could implicate Beaman in a persistent ethics investigation into alleged self-loans potentially violating campaign finance laws. In post-hearing documents reviewed by the Scene, Beaman says Ogles added him as treasurer without Beaman’s knowledge or explicit consent and implies that Ogles included Beaman’s signature on campaign finance disclosures without his knowledge.
Though Beaman came to the Capitol for a prestigious board seat, his hearing could embroil the wealthy Nashvillian in an ongoing D.C. legal thicket for months to come. The Senate approved Trump nominees Arthur Graham, Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood and Randall Jones to the TVA board, which has been operating with just three directors for more than six months. Without Beaman, two vacancies remain on the nine-member board.
