House Republicans Who Opposed McCarthy Speakership Given Major Gift for Their Re-Election Campaigns
Club for Growth, a conservative organization, has announced that it will direct $20 million to the campaigns of the Patriot 20, a group of House Republicans who opposed Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker of the House in January.
The organization said it “is prepared to spend $20 million in defense of the Patriot 20, the group of members who fought to advance conservative priorities and establish a more transparent and accountable legislative process in the House during the speaker negotiations in January,” according to a memo obtained by Politico.
“As the largest conservative political action committee, we helped elect 17 of these 20 members to Congress and are determined to make sure they have the support necessary to win their primaries and beat Democrat challengers,” Club for Growth Action President David McIntosh wrote in the memo to donors dated July 20.
“Moderate donor networks are already working to enact retribution against these conservative members who they perceive to be vulnerable to a primary challenge,” McIntosh wrote.
“Making our financial commitment public may serve as an effective deterrent to some potential challengers.
“These funds will also allow us to run aggressive independent expenditures targeting moderates who eventually emerge to primary any of these members,”
So, who exactly make up the “Patriot 20”?
As stated in the memo, they are Reps. Andy Biggs, Eli Crane, and Paul Gosar of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Byron Donalds, Anna Paulina Luna, and Matt Gaetz of Florida; Andrew Clyde of Georgia; Mary Miller of Illinois; Andy Harris of Maryland; Matt Rosendale of Montana; Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma; Scott Perry of Pennsylvania; Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Keith Self of Texas, Chip Roy of Texas, Michael Cloud of Texas, and Bob Good of Virginia.
Club for Growth noted that its priority is to help retain the seats of the five newcomers to Congress of the Patriot 20.
Those newcomers are Crane, Luna, Brecheen, Ogles, and Self, as reported by Fox News.
“Moderate donors and candidates seeking to settle scores should save their money, because we are prepared to win at all costs,” McIntosh wrote.
“We have a proven track record of success in these races, as evidenced by our investment of over $8.1 million to elect Josh Brecheen (OK-02), Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13), and Andy Ogles (TN-05) last cycle,” he added.
McIntosh wrote that his second priority is re-electing the 15 other Republicans of the Patriot 20.
“We are closely monitoring the re-election efforts of each conservative incumbent and will not hesitate to make independent expenditures to defeat moderate challengers. We will not compromise in our defense of these members,” the memo stated.
McIntosh added that Club for Growth will also shield the conservative Republicans from attacks directed at them by Democrats.
“In addition to defending these conservatives from moderate primary challengers, we will also help to protect conservative members who are targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC),” he wrote.
McIntosh listed Boebert, Luna, and Perry, as the current House Republicans facing attacks from Democrats.
“Our primary role in the general election will be to help level the playing field against the Democrats’ spending advantage,” he wrote.
“We will do this by making independent expenditures with respect to conservative candidates targeted by the DCCC. As an example, the last time one of our conservative champions was seriously threatened in a general election, we committed $6.4 million to protect Chip Roy (TX-21) in 2020,” he concluded.
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