Senate Conservatives Fund President Ken Cuccinelli suddenly has a “funny feeling” that a new wave of conservative challengers to Republican incumbents is coming.
“People’s votes may by themselves inspire folks to say: ‘I’m running against this guy or this girl,'” Cuccinelli told Politico. “I have a funny feeling that some people who weren’t thinking of running two weeks ago are thinking of running now.”
Cuccinelli’s comments came in a story about Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) ill-fated procedural maneuvering during the Senate’s recent attempt to pass a $1.1 trillion spending bill to keep the government from shutting down. Cruz essentially stalled passage of the bill in an attempt to fight President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration. But the move blew up in his face, allowing Democrats to ripen a host of executive and judicial branch nominations (and snark all the way). It also infuriated Republicans.
Cuccinelli’s comments suggest that the deep pocketed SCF would seriously take notice of the senators who backed Cruz (which SCF is closely aligned with) and the ones who criticized and voted against his maneuver. SCF, over the last few election cycles, has helped prop up conservative challengers to Republican lawmakers up for re-election.
Politico noted that of the 20 Republicans who voted against Cruz over the weekend, seven are up for re-election. Meanwhile, 16 Republicans up in 2016 voted with him.
Cruz suggested to Politico that he, like Cuccinelli, had taken note of that too. He said that “just about every senator up for re-election in 2016” voted with him.
