South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney announced his support for Rand Paul’s presidential bid Monday, saying the Kentucky senator’s dovish foreign policy and anti-establishment message is “falling on receptive ears” in his home state.
Mulvaney, who rode to Congress on the Tea Party wave in 2010, cited his growing dissatisfaction with Republican leaders as a leading reason for endorsing Paul, who holds the No. 10 spot in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings. House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have become the targets of heavy criticism on the campaign trail recently for failing to advance conservative legislation in Congress.
“The last two weeks have been probably the most frustrating weeks in Washington for me, and that’s a high bar,” Mulvaney told the Associated Press.
“There’s no way for me to avoid that the establishment wing of our party has lost its way. They don’t have any idea the damage they’re doing to the Republican Party. I called up Rand and said, I’ve had enough. We’re either going to figure out how to save this party or the establishment is going to drive it to irrelevance,” he added.
While Texas senator and White House hopeful Ted Cruz has also positioned himself as a leading critic of Republican leadership, Mulvaney questioned the effectiveness of Cruz’s constant haranguing.
“When I see Ted, it’s almost as if Ted thinks if you yell loud enough and give a dramatic speech, it’s going to solve things, and I just don’t think that’s the way the world works,” Mulvaney told the AP.
“Here’s the other thing I see out on the trail,” Mulvaney continued. “Both Rick Perry and Rand Paul came to help me in the last cycle. About 400 people showed up both times. We knew that 40 people who had never come to me came to see Perry. We know that 250 of the people who came to see Rand had never been to one of my events.”
He added, “Ted is not bringing anybody new into the party. Rand is.”
Mulvaney has previously told conservative activists that appealing to Latino voters and other minorities is crucial if Republicans plan to take back the White House in 2016 – presumably another reason the South Carolina congressman supports Paul.
Unlike many of his predecessors, Paul has made reaching out to minorities a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. The ophthalmologist-turned-senator has actively courted black voters and Millennials through various campaign initiatives and previous visits to historically black universities.
Paul will return to South Carolina this week to campaign alongside Mulvaney. In response to congressman’s endorsement, he said Monday: “It’s a big deal.”
“He’s one of the conservative leaders in the House. I think this endorsement will go a long way to showing I am the conservative candidate in this race,” Paul told the Washington Post.
Mulvaney’s endorsement comes at a time when the junior senator from Kentucky is registering at just 4 percent among Republican voters nationwide, according to the latest CNN/ORC poll.
Over the weekend, Paul predicted that last week’s Republican presidential debate will set into motion the decline of GOP front-runner Donald Trump while other candidates begin to rise.
