The top outside group aligned with President Donald Trump's political operation is jumping into a deep-red House special election in Tennessee to boost the Republican contender there.
The super PAC MAGA Inc. spent more than $15,000 calling voters to shore up support for Republican Matt Van Epps in the special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, according to a report filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission.
While it's a modest sum for a deep-pocketed group, it's the first time the super PAC has spent on any race so far this term, according to its FEC filings.
Trump’s late endorsement of Van Epps, a former state official, may have helped push him over the finish line in a crowded Oct. 7 primary. Now, he faces Democrat Aftyn Behn in a Dec. 2 special general election, for a district Trump carried by 22 points in 2024.
While Trump doesn't direct the group's spending, the decision to wade into the special election shows the Trump-aligned political apparatus is looking at the special election. Despite its deep-red tint in past elections, Democrats have made bullish noises about the race after their victories in this month's elections.
Trump just held a tele-rally with Van Epps on Thursday as a way to energize Republicans ahead of early voting, which started this week.
Behn, a state representative, has argued that Trump's stake in the race gives her an opening. She sees a path to victory by defining herself as an accountability candidate who can convince moderate Republicans and independents to put a check on Trump's majority in the House of Representatives.
While the district has long been solidly Republican, Democrats have done better this year in special elections with lower turnout and fewer Republicans energized to come to the polls.
Van Epps told NBC News in an interview last month he still sees this as a a red seat, and hopes to lean heavily on the Trump endorsement and a promise to continue former Rep. Mark Green's legacy to turn out Republican voters and glide to a win.
There's so far been little ad spending in this race since the early October primary — under $500,000, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. But that could change as the December special election draws near.
MAGA Inc. has already amassed a huge war chest so far this year — almost $177 million through June, the most recent fundraising reports filed with the FEC show.
Its top donors include GOP megadonors such as businessmen Jeff Yass, Jeffrey Sprecher, Elon Musk and Ronald Lauder. And it also received more than $10 million from the similarly named Make America Great Again Inc., which was the top outside group that boosted Trump during the 2024 campaign, but has since shuttered as the new MAGA Inc. group took over the mantle.
While the phone call campaign boosting Van Epps is the first outside spending this cycle from this new iteration of MAGA Inc., it's not the first time Trump world has weighed into a race.
Two key Trump advisers launched a group earlier this year aimed at defeating Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie in a GOP primary.
