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By the Numbers: What Campaign Cash Says About the District 81 Race

Five weeks out from the Aug. 6 primary, here's who's actually paying for the campaigns of the two Republicans hoping to replace Debra Moody in Nashville.

Every three months, Tennessee candidates for state office have to tell the public exactly who gave them money, how much, and where it went. Paper Folds pulled the reports Jason Fleming and Brett Giannini filed for the first half of 2026 and went through them line by line, donor by donor.

Why it matters

A yard sign tells you a candidate is running, but a finance report tells you who's actually behind them.

Races like this one get a fraction of the attention a statewide contest does, even though whomever wins will help decide things that hit closer to home, like funding for our schools, road projects, property taxes. Voters shouldn't have to take anyone's word for who's writing the checks.

Donations

State law caps what an individual can give a House candidate at $1,900 per election — PACs and party committees play by different rules. Fleming has brought in $16,635 from donors so far this cycle, on top of the $37,000 he's loaned himself. Giannini has raised $13,930, plus a $10,000 loan of his own.

Paul Rose, Terry Moody and Michael Harris are Fleming's three biggest donors across both quarters. For Giannini, it's Richard Kelley, Fadi Khattar and the Memphis Police Association PAC.

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In-Kind Contributions — Second Quarter

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The Snapshot (January–June 2026)

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Fleming holds a roughly 7-to-1 cash advantage heading into the final stretch. But $37,000 of the $38,204 he has on hand is his own money, not a donor's. Take the loans out of the picture and the two campaigns' actual fundraising looks a lot closer: $16,635 to $13,930.

Where the money's going

Fleming: Signs and printing ate up most of his second-quarter spending — about $13,700 combined, most of it through two Nashville firms, Bold Face Signs and Direct Edge Campaigns.

Giannini: A little of everything — retail sign runs to Home Depot, Tractor Supply and Walmart, a $5,321 ad buy through consulting firm Margin of Victory, and donations to local groups including the Covington-Tipton County and South Tipton County Chambers of Commerce and the Carl Perkins Center.

View each campaign's expenditures per quarter, as reported to the Tennessee Register of Election Finance.

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Jason Fleming — First Quarter

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Jason Fleming — Second Quarter

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Brett Giannini — First Quarter

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Brett Giannini — Second Quarter

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Full campaign finance reports for every candidate are public record, available through the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance at tn.gov/tref.