Tea Party groups have been flocking to help state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-MS) since the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Mississippi went to a runoff. One of those groups has been the Tea Party Express which has sent out multiple emails since the race went into a runoff.
Tea Party Express has also made a stop on its “Fighting for Liberty” tour in Mississippi in support of McDaniel. But there actually isn’t much evidence that the organization has actually helped McDaniel in his campaign to replace Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS).
A closely maintained database of spending of outside groups by the Center for Responsive Politics does not show any spending by the Tea Party Express political action committee for McDaniel. The database would show the Tea Party Express if it had spent over $1,000 for McDaniel in the last 20 days prior to the election. But there’s no report which means there hasn’t been much spending, according to The Washington Post.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” The Tea Party Express’s Sal Russo told the Post on Thursday.
Russo did, however, tell the post over email that his organization did plan to be “active on behalf of McDaniel” in Mississippi but their “focus will more likely be grassroots-oriented with some TV and radio support.”
A May Filing with the FEC reported that Tea Party Express had raised $2.5 million in the 2014 election cycle and according to the Center for Responsive Politics, in the 2013-2014 election cycle the group raised $8.5 million, mostly through small donations.
