Todd GardenhireNASHVILLE – Fueled by $57,000 in personal loans to his campaign, Todd Gardenhire matched rival Greg Vital dollar for dollar in spending on the Republican Senate District 10 primary from July 1-26, state records show.
Meanwhile, Vital’s pre-primary filing with the state Registry of Election Finance shows a new player joining his campaign.
Vital had a tough July, grappling with two controversies. On July 19, the Vital campaign paid $4,297 to Election Impact Group, a Mississippi-based professional political consulting firm with extensive Republican primary experience. The firm was started by Howie Morgan, who worked in Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s first campaign in 2002.
Registry filings for the July 1-26 period also show the Gardenhire campaign kicked into high gear as the Aug. 2 primary neared. It spent $70,879, including nearly $39,000 on television, cable and radio advertising.
That included $28,600 to run ads on all four major network affiliates in Chattanooga.