July 26, 2023 01:18 PM UTC

Club For Growth Mobilizes For GOP's Worst Of The Worst

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• by: Colorado Pols

Politico’s Ally Mutick reported Monday and we wanted to be sure it received a local mention:

The Club for Growth is preparing to spend millions of dollars to help reelect the 20 House Republicans who opposed Kevin McCarthy’s speakership bid…

The Club’s primary goal will be to defend the five freshmen members of the group who are especially vulnerable: Reps. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and Keith Self (R-Texas).

McIntosh wrote the Club would also closely monitor any primary challengers to the 15 other members, a group which includes some of the biggest congressional rabble rousers, such as Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), who is considering a Senate run, is also on the list.

It’s true that on paper, vulnerable sophomore Rep. Lauren Boebert looks ripe for a serious Republican primary challenge. Boebert costs substantially more to defend in a district that should not require much of a fight to hold for the GOP, while her open opposition to Republican leadership has left Boebert with little love lost among the traditional national Republican donor base–which is reflected in Boebert’s anemic recent numbers. The problem is that local Republicans who could intervene with a more credible primary challenge than Boebert faced in 2022 are too fearful of Boebert’s militant supporters to try, and are counting on a Democrat to oust Boebert so they can move in two years after that to reclaim the seat.

Recognizing this, Club For Growth pledged to be in for Boebert all the way through November of 2024:

In the memo, the Club also noted that it would also help the three members of the 20 who could be most at risk from Democrats in a general election: Boebert, Luna and Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). Boebert’s 2022 challenger, Adam Frisch, is running again after nearly besting her last fall. He announced raising a whopping $2.6 million in the second quarter of this year.

Since its founding in 1999 Club For Growth has consistently supported insurgent hard-right Republican candidates, as well as demanding much harsher conservative policy reforms than mainstream Republicans were ever able to stomach–helping cultivate an ongoing state of dissatisfaction between the Republican base and their “RiNO” leadership that persists to this day. In 2016, Club For Growth bitterly fought against Donald Trump’s nomination, and even threatened to cut off congressional candidates who supported Trump. By 2020, though, the Club was firmly in the MAGA camp.

If you were wondering who might still be willing to put real money behind the House GOP’s most distasteful figures like Boebert and Matt “Giggity” Gaetz, the ones who make the entire party seem like a foolhardy investment, here are your comic book villains willing to fund the worst of the worst.