Rand Paul endorses Mitch McConnell in 2014 Senate race, won’t back tea party challenge 10:01 PM 03/27/2013 The Daily Caller has learned that Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is endorsing Sen. Mitch McConnell for re-election in 2014, ending speculation that Paul would back a tea party challenge to the Senate minority leader. “Rand Paul has endorsed McConnell,” Jesse Benton, McConnell’s 2014 campaign manager, told The Daily Caller. Benton, who has worked for both Rand Paul and his father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, is credited by insiders with brokering Paul’s support for McConnell. The move quashes a determined effort by Kentucky Republican Liberty Caucus chairman David Adams, who launched Paul’s Senate bid and served as Paul’s campaign manager through the 2010 primaries, and other tea party leaders to mount a primary challenge against McConnell. Paul recently appeared in a Mitch McConnell advertisement with the slogan “Stand Up to Obama: Join Mitch & Rand,” prompting Adams to complain on Facebook, “Is anyone buying this, really?” (RELATED: Ashley Judd announces she will not take on McConnell) “There’s no support at all at this point for a tea party challenge,” Benton said, in a statement confirmed by other Kentucky Republican insiders. Adams had a conversation with Paul at an event Wednesday afternoon, but they were not meeting in order for Adams to try to convince Paul to back off his pro-McConnell stance, as had been suspected by one insider. “I was there with a couple hundred Lexington Republicans. I chatted briefly with Rand for a few minutes, but it wasn’t an exclusive one-on-one kind of meeting,” Adams told TheDC, adding that he’s still hopeful that the tea party wing of the party can field a challenger to McConnell. Read more: dailycaller/2013/03/27/rand-paul-helps-squash-tea-party-challenge-to-mcconnell/#ixzz2emCMV9fb
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 12:48:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015