INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Leading Senate Republicans are piling behind Indiana tea party star Richard Mourdock in a quickly escalating race against an unexpectedly strong Democratic rival. There’s one notable exception to the GOP backing: the six-term senator Mourdock vanquished by more than 20 points in May’s Republican primary.

“I’ve not been a factor in the campaign, and I do not intend to do so,” Sen. Richard Lugar told conservative Indiana blogger Abdul-Hakim Shabazz in an interview posted Monday.