Few believe that Bevin can win next year’s GOP primary. Senate Conservatives Fund backs Bevin

Matt Bevin, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s tea party primary challenger, is getting a boost from the Senate Conservatives Fund.

The group, known for endorsing conservative challengers over incumbent Senators and establishment candidates, announced Friday morning that it is endorsing Bevin in his race to unseat McConnell.


“We know that winning this primary won’t be easy. Mitch McConnell has the support of the entire Washington establishment and he will do anything to hold on to power,” SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins said in a statement. “But if people in Kentucky and all across the country rise up and demand something better, we’re confident Matt Bevin can win this race.”

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It’s no surprise that the group is backing McConnell’s challenger: It has made no secret of its dislike for the Senate Minority Leader, airing ads throughout the fall saying McConnell isn’t conservative enough for the state. In a statement, Hoskins called Bevin a “true conservative” who is “not afraid to stand up to the establishment.”

Few believe that Bevin can defeat McConnell in next year’s GOP primary — but his presence in the race is a headache for the incumbent, who’s having to spend money fighting Bevin that he’ll need for a general-election fight against Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. McConnell has already begun airing ads against Bevin within Kentucky.

Kentucky isn’t the only place SCF is making trouble this year: On Thursday, the group also backed Chris McDaniel, the Mississippi state Senator who’s challenging incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).

SCF has a long history of making trouble for incumbent GOP Senators and establishment candidates by endorsing lesser-known conservative candidates. In 2012 it backed now-Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the Texas GOP primary, and supported Indiana candidate Richard Mourdock and Missouri candidate Todd Akin in the general election. Their 2010 endorsements include now-Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who unseated then-Sen. Bob Bennett, and Colorado GOP candidate Ken Buck.

McConnell’s campaign dismissed the endorsement as irrelevant and proof that Bevin isn’t a serious candidate.

“Matt Bevin now has the dubious honor of standing with a self-serving D.C. fundraising group that made its name by recruiting and promoting unelectable candidates that ensured Barack Obama a majority in the Senate,” spokeswoman Allison Moore said in a statement. “They clearly care less about Kentuckians than they do about their reputation for supporting laughably bad candidates.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated when the SCF endorsed Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin. The group endorsed them during the general election.

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Nick Gass @ 10/18/2013 12:13 PM CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated when the SCF endorsed Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin. The group endorsed them during the general election.