The Club for Growth, a leading conservative advocacy group, entered the midterm primary season with roughly $8 million in the bank to spend on targeted Republican contests.
The organization raised $7.6 million of that into its primary political committee, Club for Growth Action, during the first quarter. It plans to invest in several Republican candidates running for the GOP nomination for House and Senate in upcoming primaries.
The club over many years has swayed voters in competitive primaries toward candidates that represent its brand of free-market, fiscally restrained conservative Republicanism. Endorsements are handed out sparingly, after a rigorous interview process.
But President Trump, who commands the loyalty of the sort of grassroots voter the club targets, is messing with the group’s formula and complicating its strategy.
“I notice when interviewing candidates, it’s complicated for them,” David McIntosh, the Club for Growth president, said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “For example, you often hear: ‘I’m both a free-trader and a fair-trader.’ Okay. What does that mean? It means they’re not comfortable with those issues but they don’t want to be disloyal to the president.”
On the issue of trade, Trump often describes himself the same way. The president has slapped steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, and threatened China with billions more in levies on a broad array of products. Trump says he wants to halt unfair trade practices and reduce the trade imbalance the U.S. has with economic partners.
“Republican primary voters are wanting Republican House [members] and senators to defend the president,” McIntosh, a former Indiana congressman, said. “They view him as being under attack. So they want to know what the candidates will do to defend him and his policy priorities.”
McIntosh emphasized that club supports Trump’s goal of reaching better trade deals even as they remain opposed to tariffs.
The Club for Growth is often at odds with the Republican establishment in Washington.
The group has a habit of bankrolling underfunded GOP primary candidates who challenge entrenched incumbents it deems insufficiently conservative. Republican leaders have complain that the club’s money would be better spent on defeating Democrats, rather than jeopardizing the party’s hold on competitive seat by enforcing an ideological purity test.
But this year, at least, the club is tempering its approach in recognition of the political headwinds jeopardizing the Republicans hold on the House majority. Rather than targeting incumbents, the group is focusing its attention on nominating preferred candidates in nine open seats. The club also endorsed two GOP incumbents: Reps. Ted Budd of North Carolina and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania
The club also is spending substantial resources on four Senate primaries. Unlike the House, Republicans are on offense in Senate races and stand to pad their 51-49 majority. In some instances, the club has set up political committees dedicated to individual Senate contests.
The club’s endorsed candidates include Rep. Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee; state attorney general Josh Hawley in Missouri; businessman Kevin Nicholson in Wisconsin and Matt Rosendale in Montana.
McIntosh explained how the midterm threat to the Republicans House majority has impacted the club’s 2018 activities. “One effect of playing defense is we see these 40 some resignations,” he said. “That, I realized last December, was a huge opportunity for the club because we play in primaries more than any of these other Republican groups.”
