A top Tea Party group threatened Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) on Friday with a primary challenger after Moran said he wants to hold a hearing for President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
“Grassroots activists in Kansas and across the country are furious that Senator Jerry Moran has decided to join President Obama in denying them a voice in the next Supreme Court Justice with their votes in November,” Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund chairman Jenny Beth Martin said in a statement, according to Politico.
Moran told constituents on Monday he wants to hold a hearing for Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, who is largely considered a judicial centrist.
“I would rather have you complaining to me that I voted wrong on nominating somebody than saying I’m not doing my job,” Moran said.
In her statement Martin said the group wants Moran to “reconsider and stand with Kansans and the American people, rather than President Obama and his liberal allies.”
Martin said Moran’s remarks constituted “outrageous behavior” that will lead to a serious consideration of encouraging Dr. Milton Wolf, a radiologist, to pursue Moran’s seat.
Wolf mounted a primary challenge from the right against Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) in 2014. He lost to Roberts by 7 points.
