Updated: September 19, 2013, 5:29 p.m.
Former Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R) weighed in on the Alabama special election race Wednesday endorsing Republican candidate and businessman Dean Young, who has taken criticism for anti-LGBT remarks. Angle made the endorsement through her political action committee, Our Voice PAC. Our Voice Pac also made a $10,000 ad buy supporting Young, according to Roll Call on Thursday. In the endorsement Angle took aim at former state Sen. Bradley Byrne (R) and Quin Hillyer, who have both led the special election field in fundraising.
The email endorsement, obtained by TPM, was sent on Wednesday:
It is urgent that we help Dean Young, the courageous conservative in Alabama, win the primary election on September 24. â¨â¨My latest blog, Qualifying the Candidate, talks about ways we can research candidates who sound too good to be true. Actions speak louder than words.â¨â¨In the special election for Congress in Alabama CD 1. OurVoicePAC qualified the candidates by eliminating those who:
1. Have voted for taxes (Bradley Byrne and Quin Hillyer supported the largest tax increase in Alabama history and Chad Fincher voted for the Internet Sales Tax and a 437 million dollar raid on the Alabama Trust Fund)
2. Have given campaign contributions to Democrats (Yes! Bradley Byrne donated to Bill Clinton when he was elected to office as a Democrat, but now he says he’s a Republican.)
3. Has ties to the DC establishment or special interests (Byrne took over $12,000 from lawyers, Fincher is a former lobbyist with $30,000 in Independent Expeditures from a DC super PAC, Hillyer is endorsed by 16 DC PACs, James is a campaign consultant, Griffiths was a top DC aid)
4. How serious these candidates are in terms of running the race (Powe and Thornton don’t have websites. Griffiths reported no campaign fundraising, James reported one donor).
Using the criteria for qualifying a candidate, OurVoicePAC finds that Dean Young is the courageous fiscal and social conservative for Congress.  Dean Young is a self-funded businessman and entrepreneur. He fought and won the “Rain Tax” and defeated the Baldwin County Property Tax. Please make an immediate donation.â¨â¨Please check out the blog and help OurVoicePAC support a winner for Congress in Alabama’s on September 24.â¨â¨Kind regards,
Sharron Angle
Dean Young previously waged an unsuccessful primary bid against outgoing former Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL), whose seat Young and the other special election candidates are vying for now. Young has lagged behind the other candidates fundraising through the special election.
Young has stood out in his push to get four of the other candidates in the race to strongly pledge opposition to same-sex marriage, something Young himself has strongly opposed. In August, he told a local radio station that he is “against homosexuals pretending like they’re married.”
“If you want to have homosexuals pretending like they’re married, then go to the Democrat party,” Young told Alabama’s WPMI.
The Alabama special election, set for Sept. 24, has attracted the attention other prominent conservatives. Last week former presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s (R-PA) political action committee aired a $25,000 radio ad for Hillyer.
In Alabama, if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote in an election, a two-person runoff is triggered. Observers say the runoff is likely to be between Byrne and either Young, conservative columnist Hillyer or former Republican National Committee aide Wells Griffith, or state Rep. Chad Fincher (R).
