Image: Submitted
Submitted By Williamson County resident who wishes to remain anonymous –
In the 2023 Williamson County Republican Party (WCRP) reorganization convention, a state record 609 voters cast ballots. There are strong indications this year’s WCRP convention will far exceed that threshold. The 2025 WCRP leadership race has turned into a surprisingly aggressive affair as money has made its presence known in the competition between two opposing candidate slates. But it’s the discovery of a newly created PAC and its initial donors that raise questions about the motivations and tactics of one of those candidate slates.
The self-styled Williamson County Conservatives (WCC) slate of candidates is backed by an eponymous PAC formed on November 11, 2024. In their fourth quarter 2024 state PAC filing, the group brought in $8,600 in contributions against $6,000 in expenditures.
Davidson County businessman Baxter Lee was the largest donor listed in the PAC filing, making a $5,000 donation on December 18th. A business listed as Marsh Development at 4424 Peytonsville Rd, Franklin made a $2,500 donation on December 13th. Rounding out the itemized donations, Kurt Winstead made a $1,000 donation on January 3rd, 2025.
Lee’s participation is interesting as he was twice rejected by the Tennessee Republican Party as a candidate for the TN-05 congressional seat currently held by Representative Andy Ogles. Lee voted in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary, which invalidated his attempt to run as a Republican under TNGOP rules and resulted in his removal from the 2022 & 2024 primary fields. His outsized influence in the early days of this campaign is notable as the WCC has repeatedly attacked their Elevate 2025 opposition over the latter’s efforts to prevent Democrat crossover voting in Republican primaries.
Five of the eight Elevate 2025 slate candidates currently serve on the WCRP board that has taken several steps to highlight and curtail crossover voting. A party funded mailer to roughly 4,000 March 2024 primary voters who had previously voted in Democrat primaries resulted in a 43% reduction in crossover voting in the August 2024 Republican primary. The board also passed a resolution in early February 2025 calling on the state legislature to enact party registration legislation this term to address the issue of crossover voting.
Following the February 15th WCRP Reagan Day gala where Elevate 2025 supporters wore “Don’t Democrat our Republican Primaries” stickers, the WCC website was subtly changed to include a statement that WCC supports only Republicans voting in Republican nominating contests, but does not articulate any methodology nor plan on how to do so.
In the WCC PAC filing, the $6,000 expenditure was divided into two $3,000 payments to Battleground Strategies Group for political administration & consulting in December. The use of Battleground Strategies indicates WCC has a professional campaign manager running their campaign. This, however, is not the only expenditure the group has made to date.
Many Williamson County residents who qualify to attend the convention have been bombarded with four mailers, robo and in-person calls, and several text campaigns to date from WCC. The cost of this barrage, which is likely to continue up to the March 4th convention, is undoubtedly staggering. Full accounting won’t be available until after first quarter PAC filings are made in April, but the cumulative total spent could easily exceed $50,000 for a county party leadership campaign.
Beyond the cost, the tone of the campaign started dark and dimmed considerably thereafter. The WCC website lists the group’s principles, but appears to make undefined accusations against the current board, and by extension, their Elevate 2025 opponents.
Furthermore, the principles appear to try to position the group as the only conservatives in the race without explaining what exactly that means or why their opponents are not also conservative. The assertion that they are a grassroots organization is particularly puzzling as they mention federated Republican groups such as Young Republicans and women’s clubs, but no organic conservative citizen groups, of which there are several in Williamson County. This begs the question whether this group will acknowledge those groups if elected, or return to a pre-2023 exclusionary organization?
The campaign literature has been equally negative. Social media accusations claimed the current board had seen a decline in the financial health of the WCRP under their watch and failure to support Republican candidates, despite verifiable proof that this is untrue and the apparent apples-to-oranges comparison WCC used to justify their claims.
The first mailer repeated the WCC website principles with implied accusations against their Elevate opponents.
A subsequent mailer went further using Kamala Harris imagery as it described purported evils the current board wrought on the WCRP (and by extension, what the Elevate board would continue). A companion text similarly invoked the Harris bogeywoman. Of note, each of the claims utilizes over the top, emotionally charged language lacking supportive facts and examples.
The decision to move the convention venue created another opportunity for WCC to again sow fear into the Williamson County electorate. The February 20th decision, borne out of necessity due to skyrocketing registrations at the TNGOP registration site and the unknown number of WCC participants due to their in-house registration scheme that hides their numbers from planners, led Contest and Credentials Committee (CCC) officials to seek out a larger venue than the 850 seat Liberty Hall at the Franklin Factory.
This in turn led WCC to issue a flurry of texts and social media posts making such claims as voter suppression, evidence of collusion between the CCC and the Elevate slate, and demanding the CCC be replaced by a new team from outside the county (this demand, is in fact a violation of TNGOP bylaw Rule E (Comprehensive Rule Governing County Party Reorganization), Part 1, Section 3, Paragraph C, which states: “The Contest and Credentials Committee must consist of five (5) members from five (5) separate precincts within the county (emphasis added).” As with other pieces from WCC, the claims are long on emotional language, but short on demonstrable proof of that which they claim.
The combination of a known Democrat voter providing significant seed money, the extremely aggressive and well funded marketing campaign for a county party leadership election, and the emotionally dark messaging used in every campaign piece should give pause to Williamson County Republicans.
In much the same way that Democrat messaging during the 2024 presidential race warned of doom if Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, WCC messaging appears designed to scare Williamson County Republicans, rather than inspire them that WCC is capable of leading.
WCC also appears to have made protecting Democrat crossover voting a key part of their campaign strategy which begs the question why? Perhaps the qualified Republican voters of Williamson County should delve beyond the scare tactics and really ask why WCC and their backers seem so afraid of stopping Democrats from having a hand in selecting their candidates.
2 Responses
Excellent editorial. Unlike anything the Brian Clifford Williamson County “Conservatives” (WCC) gang has said, this is well documented and supported with facts.
The tone of Clifford’s cabal reminds me of the reaction Democrats have given to every move that Trump and DOGE has made to break up the illegal, anti-American, Democrat financial and policy schemes. The shrill reaction of Rep. Maxine Waters, Senator Chuck Schumer, the idiot Adam Schiff yelling into microphones with blood vessels in their necks about to pop. Kinda makes me wonder if all of the WCC team are, in truth, Democrats, and their mailers, texts and calls Democrat over-the-top action steps.
But a key point the editorial missed. Only three of the eight WCC candidates are actually members of the Williamson County Republican Party. And one of those three only joined the party on January 31, 2025! That’s right. The vast majority of this WCC crew that wants to lead the party aren’t even members of the party! You haven’t seen that in the WCC’s literature, have you? Talk about withholding secrets.
More evidence that the financial backing of this WCC crew by Democrats and the fact that the WCC doesn’t suggest how they would handle the crossover voting problem is another nail in the coffin that Brian’s band and their backers are, truly, the Democrats and the furthest thing from grassroot “conservatives” that they claim to be.
How can you believe anything they say or promise?
Great, well-researched article. Thank you to TCN and to the author.TCN – thanks for allowing it to be anonymous.
Also, thanks to Frank Limpus for his comment – I believe what Frank wrote is true.
If you’re a conservative and reading this, please speak up and vote on March 4.
I believe this article is true. I got a flyer from the RINO group that was full of lies.
They remind me of Dems and are very devious and can’t be trusted.
They are part of a Political Machine that runs our County Government – they meet the definition – look it up – their objective is POWER, not good government. They want open primaries so the Dems can vote for them. Calling them the “establishment” doesn’t describe what they really are.
It’s the same bunch that has spent money like drunken sailors so our County debt is now the 2nd highest in TN – even more than Shelby-Memphis that has 3 times more people and is the Most Dangerous City in the US – think about that – how does that make any sense?
If you trace it back, the WilCo Political Machine has always been in favor of crossover voting – they have in the past opposed efforts to close primaries. The article is correct – they cut deals with the Dems. I think they are the worst kind of RINO’s – self-serving and power-hungry liars who can’t be trusted. Unitl you study them, it is hard to believe what devious liars they are. Anyone who donates to them can’t be trusted.
It seems insane that of the eight WCC candidates seeking board positions in the Williamson County Republican Party (WCRP), only three are GOP members.
I’ve heard that Clifford wants to run for County Mayor.
Come out to vote against these bad guys on March 4 at the Cool Springs Marriott conference center (the left side).
If anyone sees errors in what I wrote here, please speak up.