WASHINGTON — The tea party-aligned Senate Conservatives Fund quickly brought out the knives in response to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announcing he would seek a sixth term.
“There are few Republicans who have betrayed our conservative principles more than John McCain,” Senate Conservatives Fund President Ken Cuccinelli wrote in an email to supporters on Tuesday. “He wrote the McCain-Kennedy and ‘Gang of Eight’ immigration bills that offered amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. He voted for the Wall Street bailout, to fund the implementation of Obamacare, for the $600 billion “fiscal cliff” tax hike, and to raise the debt limit 14 different times!”
Cuccinelli continued in the email “John McCain lost his way a long time ago and it’s time to replace him with a strong conservative leader who will support and defend the Constitution.”
There have been rumblings that McCain, who’s closely associated with the establishment wing of the Republican Party, could face a primary challenge if he decided to run for re-election in 2016. Earlier in the year, tea party Reps. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) and David Schweikert (R-AZ) both signaled interest in challenging McCain in the primary. Salmon, in particular, has shown strong interest in challenging McCain.
Senate Conservatives Fund spokeswoman Mary Vought told TPM that it was looking at possible candidates to boost against McCain.
“We have spoken with a number of people in Arizona about the race, including numerous potential candidates,” Vought told TPM. “However, we are not at the point where we have formally interviewed anyone for the purpose of considering an endorsement.”
If either Republican did decide to challenge McCain they might get the support of deep-pocketed outside groups like the Club for Growth or the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF).
In 2014 SCF was one of the most enthusiastic backers of prominent tea party challengers to incumbent Republicans like Matt Bevin in Kentucky or state Sen. Chris McDaniel in Mississippi. The group has also publicly warred with establishment Republicans and the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.
The group closely aligned itself with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during his push to defund Obamacare that resulted in a government shutdown.
“SCF did not endorse a candidate in the Arizona Republican primary in 2010, but we’re working to find a principled leader we can support in 2016,” Cuccinelli added in the email. “We’re looking for a strong candidate who believes in our principles, has grassroots support, and who can run a winning campaign.”
Yaay, we’re gonna do this again! I love it. They didn’t have as much sway last time during the midterms, but they might actually be able to pull off a serious upset in a presidential election year. What a fitting end to his career it would be to be bested by a tea bagger who goes on to lose the general election and a reliable Republican seat in the Senate.
Note to Cooch:
The Senate is not the House.
“We’re looking for a strong candidate who believes in our principles, has grassroots support, and who can run a winning campaign.”
I don’t believe I have ever seen a three-part oxymoron before.
Pass the popcorn.
I’d absolutely support the “good” Senator McCain - the serious, sensible leader and legislator - except for the fact that the “bad” John McCain - the man who selected Sarah Palin as his running mate - would come along, too.
Groups like the SCF are why we can’t have nice things.
As an Arizonan, I loath jony mc!
I read with interest that he is now going to start focusing on Arizona!!!
Yeah, sure do-nothing senator! You have had 5 terms…4 too many in my opinion.
Come on Mark Kelly, run against this old do nothing troll. Isn’t it about time for Arizona to have a senator that actually gives a crap about our state?