The conservative base should support and vote for primary opponents of congressional Republicans who refuse to back Sen. Ted Cruz’s effort to filibuster a House-passed government spending bill defunding Obamacare, RedState editor-in-chief Erick Erickson wrote in a Tuesday column.
The column comes the day after Senate GOP leaders Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn said they would not support Cruz’s plan. Matt Bevin, McConnell’s primary opponent, has already criticized the senator’s position.
“The Cruz strategy would never work in and of itself. It required stronger, braver souls than the GOP currently has to offer,” Erickson wrote. “It does, however, throw such a light on these Republicans that it will make it both easier to challenge them in primaries and, more importantly, make it much, much harder for them to cooperate with the Democrats on Obamacare fixes.”
“Win or lose, Cruz and Lee have boxed in both the Democrats and the Republicans into positions that will make it more difficult for them to nuance their way out of,” he continued.
Erickson praised Heritage Action and the Senate Conservatives Fund, two conversative grassroots groups that have supported Cruz. Heritage Action has said it would score whether Senate Republicans vote with Cruz to filibuster the House spending bill.
