(This post will add more information: check back for updates.)
The Skinny
The tensions between the grassroots and establishment Republicans are out in the open as two groups over the issue of primary challenges to incumbent GOP Senators.
Duking it out are the Team Establishment National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Team Grassroots Senate Conservatives Fund.
The battle has been brewing for weeks and this past week, the NRSC began pulling out the stops.
As the New York Times lede says on November 1st:
In a warning shot to outside conservative groups, the National Republican Senatorial Committee this week informed a prominent Republican advertising firm that it would not receive any contracts with the campaign committee because of its work with a group that targets incumbent Senate Republicans.
Even more striking, a senior official at the committee called individual Republican Senate campaigns and other party organizations this week and urged them not to hire the firm…
….
The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s power play is part of a larger effort among establishment Republicans after the recent government shutdown to seize control of the party from insurgent forces who want to push Republicans toward a more hard-line posture and aggressive brand of conservatism. The attempt to effectively blacklist the consulting firm illustrates the extent of the tensions between the establishment and the hard-liners.
And liberal news sites like Talking Points Memo are having a field day with quotes like
Mitch McConnell’s chief of staff — currently assigned as a senior staffer at the National Republican Senatorial Committee through the 2014 election — compared the Senate Conservatives Fund to a drunk making a ruckus at a bar.
“S.C.F. has been wandering around the country destroying the Republican Party like a drunk who tears up every bar they walk into,” Josh Holmes said according to The New York Times. “The difference this cycle is that they strolled into Mitch McConnell’s bar and he doesn’t throw you out, he locks the door.”
Which GOP Senators are being challenged?
Among those facing primary challenges are…
[row] [column size=”1/2″] [list icon=”icon: bullhorn” icon_color=”#fa0101″]- Lamar Alexander (Tennessee)
- Thad Cochran (Mississippi)
- John Cornyn (Texas)
- Mike Enzi (Wyoming)
- Lindsey Graham (South Carolina)
- Mitch McConnell (Kentucky)
[/column][/row]
[note note_color=”#ffeeee” text_color=”#000000″ radius=”10″] [row] [column size=”1/2″]National Republican Senatorial Committee
“Working for a majority GOP Senate.”
Twitter: @NRSC
[/column] [column size=”1/2″]“A grassroots organization that helps elect true conservative leaders to the United States Senate.”
Orgin: founded by former SC Sen. and current head of Heritage Action Jim DeMint
Twitter: @SCF
[/row] [/note]The Buildup
October 16th: Sarah Palin sends a shot at Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell
Friends, do not be discouraged by the shenanigans of D.C.’s permanent political class today. Be energized. We’re going to shake things up in 2014. Rest well tonight, for soon we must focus on important House and Senate races. Let’s start with Kentucky – which happens to be awfully close to South Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi – from sea to shining sea we will not give up. We’ve only just begun to fight.
October 21st: Business looks to challenge tea party in primaries
“The Senate Conservatives Fund, Heritage Action and FreedomWorks are really just eating the lunch of some of the normal business groups,” said Dan Mattoon, former executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
….
While many heads of trade groups have been trying to navigate the new political reality in Washington, in some ways they are ill-equipped to battle more recently formed groups like Heritage Action For America and Senate Conservatives Fund that are focused on making Congress more conservative and holding Republican lawmakers accountable by ginning up the grass roots.
“Fundamentally, if the business community wants to be more engaged in the grass-roots politics, they have to have a permanent presence there,” Heritage Action’s Dan Holler said. “Arguably, there are local businesses at every level. They could be the conduit for that message. The problem is the policies big business groups are trying to sell don’t resonate outside of Washington.”–
The Cruz Factor
Complicating things is the fact that Tea Party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz is a vice chair of the NRSC.
December 15 2012: A tricky task: Ted Cruz as NRSC link to tea party
The Texas senator-elect’s decision to take a formal role at the National Republican Senatorial Committee places him squarely inside an organization many on the right view with suspicion, if not outright disdain.
His title will be vice chairman, but it could just as easily be ambassador — to the ideological grass-roots wing of the party, which helped propel Cruz’s long-shot bid over a sitting lieutenant governor this year.
On August 19th, Cruz and SFC founder Jim DeMint began their Defund Obamacare tour.
Days later, Cruz said he didn’t think the NRSC should be involved in primaries.
August 23 : Ted Cruz might play in primaries, but says the NRSC shouldn’t. Here’s why it matters.
Cruz has been quiet publicly about what, if anything, he’s been doing behind the scenes for the committee. And in an interview earlier this month, he shed little new light on the matter. But he did make a couple of things clear: The committee shouldn’t meddle in primaries, but he very well might.
“In my view, primary elections should be determined by the voters of each state. So I don’t think the National Republican Senatorial Committee should be involved in primaries,” Cruz said in the interview.
In that August 13th article, they added a follow from
After the government shutdown, that wasn’t good enough for some of Cruz’s colleagues.
October 30th, 2013: Ted Cruz extends olive branch to GOP senators
Extending an olive branch to GOP senators, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is privately making it clear he won’t engage in the Senate Conservatives Fund’s hardball tactics to defeat his colleagues in their primary races.
At a closed-door lunch meeting of Senate Republicans Wednesday, the freshman conservative told his colleagues that he would not intervene in their 2014 primary fights or fundraise for the controversial outside group. Cruz added that the SCF’s decision to try to defeat sitting GOP senators in their primaries was its alone, according to several people familiar with the session.
…
One source said Cruz made clear to his colleagues at the Wednesday meeting that he would not associate himself with the group any longer. But a Cruz spokeswoman said the senator would still be involved with the group’s effort in “promoting conservative causes.”
The spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier, said Cruz reiterated to the GOP senators his previous statements that he wouldn’t get involved in their primary fights. At the meeting, Cruz pointed to a statement the SCF recently issued that neither him, Paul nor Lee was involved in its endorsement decisions, Frazier said.
“He’ll continue working with them to promote common conservative policies but not get involved in their endorsement or fundraising decisions,” Frazier said. “SCF’s organization is not just about primary politics but promoting conservative causes that Republicans across the spectrum can support.”
For more reading:
- AllahPundit at HotAir; War: NRSC blacklists ad firm because it helps Senate Conservatives Fund target Republicans
- The Hill: NRSC aims to blacklist conservative group’s ally
(Found other good articles? Please suggest links in comments.)
Recent Comments