The Club For Growth is now in a new battle in the Arizona Senate primary, between establishment-backed Rep. Jeff Flake and real estate developer Wil Cardon. But in this case, the Club is now duking it out with a non-candidate – Rep. Trent Franks.
Typically, the Club has given its support to insurgent candidates. But in this case, Flake is himself a long-time ally of the group. And so the Club has been going the opposite way — running ads to cut off support for Cardon by calling him an “impostor” of a conservative, and support to Flake.
In order to rebut the attacks, the Cardon campaign has a new ad starring the right-wing champion Franks, who recently endorsed Cardon –Â and is now specifically attacking the Club in the new spot.
Hello, I’m Trent Franks, and I’ve personally endorsed Arizona businessman Wil Cardon for U.S. Senate. And I need to set the record straight — these Club for Growth attacks on Wil Cardon labeling him an impostor are absolutely false. I personally know Wil Cardon as a jobs-creator, a conservative Reagan Republican, that he has the business skills we need in the Senate to fix this economy. Wil Cardon will be a true conservative Republican senator we can trust.
In response, the Club issued a statement accusing Franks of being bitter — that they didn’t back him when he’d been eyeing the race.
The facts in our ads are entirely accurate: Wil Cardon did support a massive tax increase, and Cardon is a leading member of a liberal organization that wants to raise gas taxes and backs a cap-and-trade energy scheme,” said communications director Barney Keller. “Trent Franks is a good man and it’s a shame that he is allowing his personal bitterness at the Club for Growth PAC’s support of Jeff Flake over him in the U.S. Senate race to cloud his judgment about liberal Wil Cardon.
Here is a radio ad that the Club has been running:
