NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn faces allegations that she and her campaign engaged in "flagrant violations" of federal and state law by using donations from her Senate campaign for her gubernatorial race.
The allegations are contained in a sworn complaint filed with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, the state agency that regulates campaign fundraising and spending, by longtime Knoxville Republican activist Gary Loe.
That complaint accuses the Williamson County Republican of "deliberately flaunting" rules designed to ensure that money from federal campaigns is not used for state campaigns.
"Senator Blackburn has deliberately misrepresented federal campaign expenditures to disguise her use of federal campaign contributions from her 'Marsha for Senate' campaign account to use as state campaign expenditures for her race for governor," Loe wrote.
Blackburn's campaign manager immediately dismissed the allegations as "frivolous and wrong."
The filing of the complaint, first obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, comes five months after Blackburn officially kicked off her gubernatorial bid.
In an exclusive interview, Loe said he first became suspicious at the end of 2024 when Blackburn used money from her Senate campaign for a feel-good Christmas commercial — right before she announced she was considering running for governor.
"Typically we see messaging when there's a big issue or an election — and there was neither of those two things," he explained.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "So you thought that was sort of laying the ground for her run for governor?"
"Well, at that time, I didn't know why we were seeing that television ad," he replied.
An independent review by NewsChannel 5 shows that in 2019 — the year after she was first elected to the Senate — Blackburn reported spending just under $686,000 from her federal campaign account.
Last year, in the year after her re-election, she reported spending $3.1 million from her Senate campaign.
That's almost five times as much.
We asked Loe, " And when you see those kind of numbers, what does that tell you?"
"Well, it looks like wrongdoing and, if so, it's corruption," he answered.
Loe's complaint alleges that six years ago, the Blackburn Senate campaign's only full-time employee was a bookkeeper. But, when she started running for governor last year, through September, she had 17 full-time staffers and five consultants.
Her Senate campaign spent less than $25,000 on travel in 2019, Loe claims. But last year, she spent $300,000 on travel, including $200,000 on private planes.
"We can't have one candidate not following the rules while the other candidates are," Loe added. "It's illegal, and it also sets up an unfair playing field."
Blackburn's campaign manager, Abigail Sigler, insisted Loe's complaint has no merit.
"This complaint is frivolous and wrong," Sigler stated in an email statement.
"It reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of federal and state campaign finance law, established reporting requirements and Senator Blackburn’s role within the current political landscape."
She added, "Comparing the role Senator Blackburn had six years ago with her role today ignores the critical work she has done nationally to advance the Republican Party and conservative values."
Still, Loe said he believes his questions need to be answered by the independent state agency.
" If there is no wrongdoing, then hopefully there are no hard feelings," Loe said. "But if you look at the reporting, I think that you'll see that this certainly needs to be looked into."
Blackburn faces opposition in the GOP primary from Congressman John Rose and State Rep. Monty Fritts.
Loe said he has not made campaign donations for any of the Republican candidates nor has he committed to support any of them at this point.