The 2025 Williamson County GOP reorganization saw grassroots conservatives in Elevate 2025 defeat the establishment-backed slate despite high-profile support, heavy spending, and media attacks. The race exposed deep party divides, power plays, and future political maneuvering.
Franklin, TN – The 2025 Williamson County Republican Party reorganization convention was less of a political contest and more of a referendum on the establishment’s desperate attempt to claw back control. In a well-deserved rebuke to entrenched power brokers, grassroots conservatives, led by chairman-elect Steve Hickey and the Elevate 2025 slate, overcame a torrent of misinformation, establishment meddling, and an obscene cash advantage to claim victory.
The Establishment’s High-Stakes Bet—And Its Costly Misfire
The Williamson County Conservatives slate had everything: Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson personally championing their cause behind the scenes, Governor Bill Lee lending his presence for added gravitas, and 99.7 WTN, The Tennessee Star and Channel 5 News providing a well-oiled media echo chamber. Johnson and Clifford's interviews with station personalities Matt Murphy and Dan Mandis, were the epitome of political theater.
Elevate 2025 has not formally proposed a caucus system, but has successfully utilized caucuses aka voting conventions, in the past year, yielding strong grassroots results. Despite this, the establishment is pushing the narrative that caucuses are inevitable, framing them as a scheme to "steal votes" and "cancel elections," even though no formal decision has been made. Of course, what he conveniently omitted was that caucuses are a widely accepted and perfectly legal election method employed across the country.
The misinformation campaign didn’t stop there. Brian Clifford assured radio host Dan Mandis that the state legislature had no pending bills to close the primaries, a claim that flagrantly ignored House Bill 886 (HB886) and Senate Bill 777 (SB777), which, if passed, would require party registration. Mandis, uncritically parroted this falsehood in his subsequent interview with Hickey, attempting to box him into a commitment on caucuses while disregarding the real legislative developments at play.
The Great Caucus Smokescreen: A Manufactured Crisis
The Williamson County Conservatives staked their campaign on one central fearmongering claim: that Elevate 2025 would most definitely invest in a caucus system, which would in turn disenfranchise Republican voters. This assertion was repeated ad nauseam, conveniently omitting the fact that a caucus (or "convention") would prevent non-Republicans from influencing GOP nominations—a necessity in Tennessee’s open-primary system, where Democrats routinely cross over to prop up moderate Republicans.
Despite this effort to muddy the waters, the gobs of money, the mailers, the attack ads, the relentless misinformation, and the high-powered establishment political support, the establishment slate simply could not overcome a well-organized grassroots movement. Elevate 2025’s core message “Don’t Democrat My Republican Primaries” resonated with voters tired of Republican primaries being open to Democrat meddling. The establishment’s playbook—overspending by an estimated five to six times their opponents while employing every dirty trick in the book—ultimately failed.
The Recount Drama: Political Operatives in Damage Control Mode
As the final votes were tallied, Elevate 2025 swept the board although by small margins. But establishment operatives weren’t finished yet. Enter newly elected District 65 State Representative Lee Reeves, who promptly requested a recount on behalf of Brian Clifford. Reeves, joined by political consultant and social media troll Aaron Gulbranson,—Gulbranson, long rumored to operate at the behest of Johnson, seemed oddly invested in Clifford’s success.
The recount did little to change the outcome:
- Before: Hickey 795, Clifford 751
- After: Hickey 798, Clifford 750
What did change, however, was the decorum—or lack thereof—of the establishment’s key players. Reeves, fresh from his failed recount maneuver, confronted newly elected GOP Treasurer Tim Raynaud in what multiple eyewitnesses described as a menacing altercation. Reeves accused Raynaud of "threatening" his wife, Claire Reeves, a District 9 School Board Representative—an accusation stemming from a routine memorandum of understanding signed by GOP candidates prior to the 2024 elections. Witnesses reported Reeves stepping inches from Raynaud’s face, issuing a thinly veiled threat to "never threaten my wife again."
Follow the Money: Johnson’s PAC and Clifford’s Future Ambitions
This wasn’t just about a county GOP chair race. This was a calculated power play engineered by Jack Johnson. In December 2024, Johnson began raising funds for a PAC specifically designed to unseat the existing GOP leadership—leadership, it’s worth noting, that had been elected by Williamson County conservatives. His donors, under the impression they were "helping conservatives," later admitted they had no idea they were bankrolling an establishment coup.
As Gary Humble of Tennessee Stands astutely pointed out, the establishment’s strategy mirrored Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals—smear opponents, push misleading narratives, and manufacture a crisis to rally support. Jack Johnson’s handpicked candidate, Brian Clifford, was positioned as the defender of “real Republicans,” while Elevate 2025 was falsely portrayed as an anti-voter faction, despite their clear mission to protect GOP elections from Democrat interference.
But, as Humble further revealed in a recent Tennessee Stands newsletter, this was about more than just a county party leadership race. Johnson had already begun courting donors and elected officials to secure early backing for Clifford’s anticipated 2026 Williamson County mayoral run. The establishment’s push wasn’t just an isolated power grab—it was a calculated move to cement long-term control over the county’s political landscape.
The Real Story: What the Establishment Fears Most
The GOP’s internal battle in Williamson County isn’t an isolated event; it’s a microcosm of a broader struggle within the party. The establishment favors open primaries because it allows for the dilution of conservative influence. Crossover voting enables moderates, left-leaning Republicans, and even full-blown democrats who know how to work the system, to win races they would otherwise lose in a closed system.
This is why they fought tooth and nail against Elevate 2025. They knew they couldn’t win a convention-style election where only Republicans vote. It’s been proven several times over the past 2 years. They know their handpicked candidates won’t survive without Democrat crossovers.
And so, they resorted to lies, fear tactics, and an obscene cash dump to try and bully their way into power.
But it didn’t work.
The new leadership—Chairman Steve Hickey, First Chair Diane Chenard, Second Chair Elliot Franklin, Third Chair Courtney Laginess, Treasurer Tim Raynaud, Assistant Treasurer Brandon Bell, Secretary Leigh Ann Cates, and Assistant Secretary Peg Raciti—take office with a clear mandate: defend Republican elections from establishment interference and secure party integrity.
The establishment opposition will undoubtedly regroup. They will attempt new maneuvers to retain control. But for now, the grassroots have sent a clear message: The Williamson County Republican Party belongs to its voters—not to political elites orchestrating backroom deals.
The battle for Tennessee’s GOP future is just beginning.
Comments ()