A tea party-affiliated group is urging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to bow out of his re-election bid next year against Democratic rival Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, citing concerns with the longtime senator's electability.
July 3, 2013


The Senate Conservatives Fund PAC launched this video as part of a $50,000 television and radio ad campaign attacking Senator McConnell for supporting "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants.

A tea party-affiliated group is urging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to bow out of his re-election bid next year against Democratic rival Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, citing concerns with the longtime senator's electability.

WaPo:

“Mitch McConnell is now the least electable Republican senator running for reelection in 2014,” said Matt Hoskins, the executive director of the Senate Conservatives Fund, a super PAC once associated with former South Carolina senator Jim DeMint. “He could lose this race and cost Republicans the majority. He needs to consider whether it might be time to hang it up.”

Them’s fighting words. And, the McConnell team was ready with a response. “Any Republican who thinks Senator McConnell is vulnerable is living in an alternate universe, probably of their own creation,” said Jesse Benton, the aforementioned campaign manager for McConnell’s 2014 race.

...

Could, to Hoskins’ point, another Republican without the long political history of McConnell be a better (or easier) bet to win in Kentucky? Sure. But, consider this counter-argument: McConnell’s leadership position in the Senate is worth the fight, given that replacing him with a freshman Republican would mean a massive diminution in the Bluegrass State’s power in the Senate.
To that, Hoskins responded: ”Senator McConnell certainly has a lot of power, but the sad truth is he rarely uses that power to fight for conservative principles. He tells everyone in Kentucky he is powerful, but then pretends to be powerless against Obama’s agenda in Washington.”

In May, the PAC attacked McConnell over the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill, mounting a $50,000 television and radio ad campaign attacking the him for supporting "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants.

Grimes, who assumed office in 2012, announced on Monday that she would challenge McConnell in next year's Senate race. Thus far, she is the only Democrat to jump in the race.

A poll conducted in May by the Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, showed McConnell and Grimes tied in a hypothetical matchup.

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