GOP establishment turns tables on tea party in Indiana
Richard Lugar's upset loss in 2012 still lingers in the minds of many.
By Kevin Robillard
05/01/16 06:03 PM EDT
Updated 05/01/16 07:54 PM EDT
BROWNSBURG, Ind. — Establishment Republicans are poised to rout the tea party in their biggest Senate showdown of 2016, a dramatic turn of the tables from both recent Senate history and this year’s unpredictable presidential race.
Just four years ago in Indiana, a shocking 20-point primary loss by six-term GOP Sen. Richard Lugar demonstrated just how far establishment control of the GOP had slipped. But this year, Rep. Todd Young has opened a lead in the state’s Republican Senate primary behind a tsunami of establishment money and support — and the tea-party energy that took down Lugar has failed to materialize, despite the anti-establishment vigor of the presidential race.
GOP Rep. Marlin Stutzman, Young’s opponent, has won support from some of the same groups that backed Lugar challenger Richard Mourdock in Indiana in 2012. But neither the money nor the outrage that drove past tea-party campaigns has been there for Stutzman. Young and his supporters have outspent Stutzman 9-to-1 on TV. Senate Leadership Fund — a new super PAC run by allies of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — has even attacked Stutzman, a first for a PAC in the Crossroads outside-group network, which has typically aired only positive ads in Republican Senate primaries.
In past years, such anointments by party leaders simply fueled conservative fury. Groups used that outrage to finance a flood of attack ads going the other way. But this year, with Donald Trump distracting and dividing the conservative movement, only one side showed up in Indiana.
“I’ve really never been the party establishment pick for any of my races. So this isn’t new to me,” Stutzman said during a campaign stop at Flapjacks Pancake House, 30 minutes outside of Indianapolis. “When you look at the attacks McConnell has on us, their polling looks like our polling. They know we’re in a really tight race, and the best thing they can do is try to burn us down.”
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