DeMint Irks GOP, Backs Conservatives in Key Races
DeMint’s maverick streak received national attention Tuesday after he revealed that he was backing Marlin Stutzman in Indiana’s Republican Senate primary. Former Sen. Dan Coats is the preferred candidate of most GOP officials.
By: Chris Wessling at Newsmax.com
Republican Sen. Jim DeMint is raising eyebrows within his own party by publicly announcing his support for conservative candidates the GOP has not officially endorsed.
DeMint’s maverick streak received national attention Tuesday after he revealed that he was backing Marlin Stutzman in Indiana’s Republican Senate primary. Former Sen. Dan Coats is the preferred candidate of most GOP officials.
“Marlin Stutzman is the conservative outsider in the Indiana Senate race who will take on the Washington establishment,” said DeMint, a South Carolina firebrand. “We’ve got a young conservative running for the Senate who could pull off one of the biggest upsets of the year. He’s surging because he’s an authentic conservative who doesn’t apologize for his principles.”
The Stutzman endorsement came days after DeMint announced that he was throwing his support behind conservative county prosecutor Ken Buck for a Senate seat in Colorado, over former GOP Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, who has received the party’s blessing.
Before that, DeMint endorsed former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio; California state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore; and former Pennsylvania Rep. Pat Toomey. All are anti-establishment Republicans running for the U.S. Senate.
DeMint is using his political action committee Senate Conservatives Fund to help conservative candidates that he thinks will appeal to voters who have lost faith in the government and elected officials.
“I’m at the point where it doesn’t matter if we win if we don’t believe in anything,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “There’s no need to nursemaid somebody to the general election if they’re just going to come up here and vote like the Democrats do.”
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