U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett is running to keep his job in the U.S. House of Representatives, but his spending in the 2026 election cycle illustrates his higher ambitions.
Burchett has nearly tripled his spending compared to the 2024 election: More than $2.7 million from Jan. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30. He spent less than $1 million to secure his last reelection to the House.
It's like he's running a statewide campaign.
Even though Republicans across the country are facing serious headwinds, Burchett's race against Democrat Michaela Barnett hasn't shifted toward Democrats, and the party is targeting districts in Middle and West Tennesseeover Burchett's eight-county East Tennessee district.
So why is Burchett spending so much? He's made his desire to serve
Tennessee in the U.S. Senate clear, and depending how the governor's race goes, there could be an opening soon. If Sen. Marsha Blackburn is elected governor, her appointed replacement would serve until November 2028. Then, there would be an election to fill out the rest of her term through 2030.
So whoever fills the seat in that scenario would have an expensive statewide campaign looming, and Burchett brings an advantage not every other prospect has: He can use the same money he's raised to run for the House for a future Senate run. Candidates who run for statewide office, in contrast, cannot use money raised for those races for a federal campaign.
On top of that, Burchett also benefits from a well-established political action committee as well as a joint fundraising committee that allows his committee and other candidates' to raise money together.
Burchett's growing profile and name recognition have bolstered his campaign coffer, too. He's a fixture on television news and has a cult following on social media through bits like "Concession Confessions" and his homemade longboards. Burchett's first full-time campaign manager, Thomas McAfee, started promoting Burchett's "no-nonsense approach to D.C. and the political class" brand more on Instagram and TikTok in 2025, and viewers across the country seemed to like it.
McAfee told Knox News that Burchett posted his first "direct-to-camera" fundraising ask on social media in January, and it generated almost $200,000.
"Thankfully, the Congressman has had generous support for years and was sitting on a nice nest egg when we began to restructure how we did things," McAfee told Knox News. "We could have comfortably run this reelect on that nest egg, but the energy presented us with the opportunity to grow, and exponential growth is what we have accomplished."
From Jan. 1, 2025 through Sept. 30, Burchett has raised just over $3 million, compared to slightly more than $891,000 in the same period during the 2024 campaign cycle.
The timing is right for an ambitious congressman
If Blackburn is elected governor Nov. 3, she plans to stay in the Senate long enough to appoint her own successor shortly after being sworn in as governor.
Burchett has been putting in the workwith Blackburn, appearing regularly with her around the state and continuing to be a strong advocate for President Donald Trump and Republican Party leadership, who will have a say in the appointment.
“It is a tremendous honor to represent the fine folks of Tennessee District 2 in the United States House of Representatives, and my sole focus is delivering a strong win for them on November 3," Burchett told Knox News in a statement. "I’ve made no bones about the fact that I would be honored to serve the Great State of Tennessee in the United States Senate.”
Blackburn's appointee would serve until the next general election in 2028, when someone would be elected to serve until the seat is up for election in 2030. Many names in Blackburn's circle have been floated to succeed her, but her appointee would have the incumbency advantage.
Among those who could conceivably fill out Blackburn's Senate term if she's elected governor are U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann; former CoreCivic CEO and major Republican donor Damon Hininger; former Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs; Stuart McWhorter, the deputy governor and commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development; and Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
Burchett's investment in the future
Burchett's fundraising and spending from Jan. 1, 2025-Sept. 30 are notable for how different they are from his typical reelection campaign.
- New vendors: Burchett has paid more than $1 million to Targeted Victory, a fundraising firm associated with the strategy firm Baker Group Strategies, which works closely with Blackburn.
- New donations: This year, Burchett donated $10,000 to the Tennessee House Republican Caucus, the first time he's ever donated from his congressional campaign to the state House fundraising arm.
- Senate pick polling: On Aug. 21, Burchett paid Knoxville polling firm Spry Strategies $18,000. From Aug. 23-25, the firm surveyed 900 likely Republican voters across the state and released results showing Burchett was favored to represent Tennessee in the U.S. Senate. Burchett's payment isn't directly linked to the poll and Spry Strategies President Ryan Burrell declined to tell Knox News whether the congressman commissioned that particular poll.
- Travel ramps up: For his 2024 election, Burchett spent $17,755.40 on expenses labeled "travel," such as Ubers, gasoline, flights and hotels. In this campaign, Burchett has spent $78,291.18 on travel expenses and visited 70 Tennessee counties, McAfee told Knox News.
- Burchett is putting in the work with out-of-state GOP leaders: Though his reelection campaign is less competitive, Burchett has been traveling to more competitive districts around the country to stump for his Republican colleagues. McAfee said Burchett has traveled to 10 different states to "help support his friends in both houses of Congress."
Burchett faces pressure to perform well in his reelection bid
To win reelection, Burchett just needs to get more votes than Barnett, but the stakes are higher than usual as Burchett aims for a Senate appointment.
If he doesn't perform as well this year as he has in the past, it could count against him in Blackburn's consideration for her successor.
In each election since 2018, Burchett's percentage of the vote has gone up (district boundaries changed slightly after the 2020 census). In 2024, he got a whopping 69% of the vote.
Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tim Burchett is running for reelection to the House. Is he running for Senate, too? | Exclusive
