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Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder holds a whopping financial advantage over other candidates running for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, including incumbent U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, campaign finance disclosures show.
According to end-of-year reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Molder raised $412,000 in the last quarter of 2025. Since announcing his candidacy for the seat in September, the Democrat has raised more than $1.2 million and has $978,000 cash on hand.
Ogles, a second-term Republican who has been the subject of campaign finance investigations, reported raising $151,300 during the same period. This brings Ogles’ total for the two-year election cycle beginning after the 2024 elections to $317,000.
Both Molder and Ogles must survive primary elections to make it on the final ballot.
Former Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture Charlie Hatcher will take on Ogles in the Republican primary. Hatcher has raised $411,000 since entering the race in September, with notable donors including former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker with a $2,000 contribution, former Gov. Bill Haslam with $3,500, and Haslam’s father and brother — James Haslam, II and James Haslam, III, respectively — each donating $3,500.
Molder faces opposition from three Democrats, including first-term Metro Nashville Councilmember Mike Cortese. Cortese raised just over $100,000 in the final quarter of the year for a cumulative fundraising total of $263,000. Two other candidates, Jim Torino and Joyce Neal, have raised less than $20,000 combined.
Notable donors to Molder include former Tennessee Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh and Loren Chumley, who served as commissioner of revenue under former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, both with $1,000 contributions. John Ingram, businessman and owner of the Nashville Soccer Club, has kicked in $7,000 to back the second-term mayor.
National eyes on Tennessee’s 5th District
National Democrats look at Tennessee’s 5th District as an opportunity to flip the seat, which was held by Democrats for nearly a century before Republican legislators redrew district lines during 2022’s redistricting process.
Prior to 2022, the district was composed of Davidson County and portions of Cheatham County. Redistricting divided Davidson County into three portions — the other parts are in the 6th and 7th Congressional Districts — and the 5th District now includes all of Maury, Lewis and Marshall counties and parts of Davidson, Williamson and Wilson Counties.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted the seat and lists it as one of its “Districts in play.” The Cook Political Report, which provides independent, non-partisan analysis for federal and gubernatorial races, has shifted its predictions for the seat from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican.”
Ogles won the seat in 2022, beating state Sen. Heidi Campbell, a Nashville Democrat, by 13 percentage points. He defeated nine other candidates in the Republican primary, including former Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell.
In 2024, Ogles handily defeated Metro Councilmember Courtney Johnston in the primary election.
But Ogles has faced criticism since his election for claims of resume inflation, has been the subject of an FBI fraud investigation, and faced calls for investigation into his campaign finances from the U.S. House Ethics committee. He has been highly critical of Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell over his opposition to a federal sweep of South Nashville streets for immigrant residents in May and in December said judges in Nashville should be impeached.
Ogles received an endorsement from President Donald Trump in each of his congressional campaigns. After Hatcher announced in September he would challenge Ogles in the 2026 Republican primary, Trump endorsed Ogles again, calling him a “conservative warrior.”
Former congressman seeks to return to Washington
In Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District, Van Hilleary, who represented Tennessee’s 4th District from his 1994 election through 2002, is running in the Republican primary to replace U.S. Rep. John Rose, who is running for governor.
Also running in the GOP primary is Goodlettsville Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett. Garrett is sitting on $1.5 million cash on hand, having loaned himself $600,000 in addition to the $317,000 he has raised so far.
Hilleary, who is chief of staff for Rose, has raised a total of $840,716.
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