Mainstream GOP upbeat after Tea Party loses in 6 primaries

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (second from right), arrives in Hindman, Ky., on a campaign stop. McConnell pledged months ago to "crush" Tea Party candidates. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (second from right), arrives in Hindman, Ky., on a campaign stop. McConnell pledged months ago to "crush" Tea Party candidates. Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Mainstream GOP upbeat after Tea Party loses in 6 primaries 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Washington --

Mainstream conservatives ran the table in Senate Republican primaries as Tea Party upstarts lost all six challenges to GOP incumbents, leaving the establishment upbeat about midterm elections and the insurgent movement beaten but unbowed.

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander's narrow win Thursday night and Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts' triumph on Tuesday dashed the Tea Party's last hopes of knocking out a sitting senator. Earlier this year, incumbents prevailed in Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina and Mississippi for a party intent on nominating viable candidates and winning Senate control in November's contests.

Republicans need to net six seats for the majority. Democrats currently hold a 55-45 advantage.

"The last two cycles we nominated some people who were not the best candidates for the general election," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters during a campaign stop in Hindman, Ky. "In 2014, I'm hard-pressed to think of a single state where we don't have the best nominee possible in order to do what this is all about, which is to actually get elected and make policy."

Republicans blame Tea Partyers and flawed candidates for squandering the party's shot at Senate control in 2010 and 2012, especially in Delaware, Nevada, Colorado, Missouri and Indiana. Months ago, McConnell vowed to "crush" Tea Party candidates, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee invested money, staff and time, including more than 40,000 phone calls in Kansas in the final three weeks of the campaign.

Tea Partyers and other outside groups acknowledged the beat down.

"If you kind of look at this like a baseball game, you guys totally struck out, done, you're gone," said Daniel Horowitz, a strategist who formerly worked with the Madison Project, one of several conservative groups that have spent money against GOP incumbents.

Tea Partyers say they have co-opted the Republican Party, especially the rank and file in the House who last week forced the leadership to allow a vote on legislation rolling back a program for young immigrants living here illegally that the GOP establishment has embraced. The House passed the measure.

"If we're just a bunch of crazies who can't gain any traction, they wouldn't worry about us," Horowitz said of the Republican establishment.