Shannon Loss Won’t Stop National Tea Party Groups
Tea Party Losses Don’t Stop Cash Or Curb Influence
By Charles Babington and Philip Elliott, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Desperate to knock off GOP incumbents in this year’s Republican primaries, the nation’s tea party groups have spent millions only to fall short in election after election.
Yet for all the losses, from Matt Bevin in Kentucky to Chris McDaniel in Mississippi, business for the tea party has never been better.
The lack of success at the ballot hasn’t kept the groups from raising huge sums of money, adding names to their mailing lists and recruiting new volunteers. At the same time, they continue to pull the Republican Party to the right. GOP lawmakers who previously compromised with Democrats on spending, among other issues, now refuse to budge — even if it means shutting down the government and risking a default on the nation’s debt.
Those facts are frustrating mainstream Republicans, who on Wednesday implored tea party activists to rethink the money they are giving to anti-establishment groups such as Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and the Senate Conservatives Fund. All three backed the failed bid of McDaniel, a Mississippi state senator, to oust U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran after six terms in office.
“How much money did we spend in Mississippi that could have been spent picking up the majority?” asked South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had to beat back six challengers in his own primary earlier this month.