President Donald Trump has never hidden his disdain for clean energy, raging against wind turbines and solar power at campaign rallies and moving to gut renewable energy projects as president – now a fast-growing political force is determined to make Republicans pay for agreeing with him.
The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC, backed by solar executives, claimed its biggest win yet Thursday by helping unseat Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) in his primary, despite Trump personally campaigning for him, reported Politico. The PAC spent $2 million opposing Ogles and boosting his primary rival, Charlie Hatcher — more than both candidates spent combined.
Ogles is the third Republican targeted by the group to lose this year, following Texas Rep. Chip Roy’s failed attorney general bid and South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman’s defeat in his run for governor. All three had pushed congressional leaders for a rapid phaseout of renewable energy incentives.
“The entire map is in play and we will take this fight across the country through November,” said Tom Matzzie, CEO of solar company CleanChoice Energy and the PAC’s chair.
Notably, the PAC’s ads never mentioned clean energy directly. Instead, they hammered Ogles on missed votes and boosted Hatcher’s conservative credentials — a strategy designed to avoid triggering exactly the kind of anti-renewable backlash Trump has spent years stoking.
Chris Larsen, the PAC’s top funder at $6 million of its $6.8 million raised, has called the effort “political warfare,” borrowing tactics from the crypto industry’s Fairshake super PAC, and co-founder Michael Brune, former Sierra Club executive director, was blunter still: “We’ve got to continue our retribution tour and take out a few more members who have voted the wrong way.”
Trump personally intervened for Ogles, calling him “a friend of mine” and “a terrific guy” during a July tele-rally — a rare instance of the president wading directly into the group’s crosshairs. He notably stayed out of the Roy and Norman races.
Ogles didn’t go quietly, blasting the PAC’s billionaire backer as “some libtard in California” and warning the loss would have “a chilling effect” on conservatives in Congress.
The group isn’t purely punitive – it spent $125,000 in June boosting Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who leads the Conservative Climate Caucus, showing Republicans there’s a reward for cooperation.
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