To the surprise of few, it was recently revealed that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spent a considerable portion of his $180 million war chest to help establishment Republicans defeat America First candidates in the GOP primary elections.
McConnell’s political machine committed about $9 million to help Sen. Lisa Murkowski defeat Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska’s Republican primary, and millions more for Katie Britt against Mo Brooks in Alabama. McConnell also held back on spending money in key races, haphazardly withdrawing $5 million in New Hampshire to undermine Don Bolduc in his race against Sen. Maggie Hassan. In Arizona, he failed to support Blake Masters at a critical time against Sen. Mark Kelly.
McConnell’s sabotage of his own side in the Senate races won’t come as a surprise to most Republicans, but many are unaware that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy used similar tactics in several House races during the same period. McCarthy’s behavior is even worse than McConnell’s in light of the extremely underwhelming House election results. Although observers expected a “red wave” that would yield a strong Republican majority in the House, Republicans are likely to have just a five-vote advantage in the end.
According to The Washington Post, the political machine around McCarthy directed millions to be spent against Republican candidates in GOP primaries associated with the America First movement. Yes, you read that correctly. McCarthy surrogates, including Amazon lobbyist Jeff Miller, directed four political action committees to attack key candidates to McCarthy’s right in primary elections around the country.
