Tea Party group Freedom Works Political Action Committee endorsed Republican Bryan Smith’s campaign for Rep. Mike Simpson’s (R-ID) congressional seat.
“Bryan Smith is strong fiscal conservative with close ties to the grassroots all across his district. He is not a career politician. He is local leader in his community who understands the problems we are facing and wants to help find real solutions,” FreedomWorks PAC President Matt Kibbe said in the endorsement on Tuesday. “Bryan’s mission in Congress is to stop the out of control spending that Congressman Simpson has been propping up for years. Smith will be a road block for either party that tries to continue to spend us into a more debt. Idahoans need a strong voice in Congress, and Bryan Smith is their man.”
The endorsement is one of the latest developments in a race that has been framed as a proxy battle between the Tea Party and more mainstream wings of the Republican Party. Simpson is often mentioned as a close ally of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).
In August, Boehner headlined a fundraiser for Simpson. Freedom Works made a handful of endorsements on Tuesday. The PAC also endorsed Republicans Igor Birman in California, Bruce Poliquin in Maine, and Dan Bongino in Maryland.
