Tea party to defend its small government champions in 2016 Senate races

Sen. John McCain likely has a bull’s-eye on his back, but tea party groups have signaled that they expect the 2016 Senate races to be a lot more about defending the small government champions the movement helped win in the 2010 wave election than in headhunting ‘establishment’ Republicans.

Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican and the GOP’s presidential nominee in 2008, has already said he expects to face a primary challenge, and tea party groups are talking up apparent early interest in the seat shown by Rep. David Schweikert.

On the other side is Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, who was part of the 2010 tea party wave and who the groups are now rallying around, hoping to head off an establishment-backed challenge.

“If the Republican establishment wants to defeat Sen. Lee in a primary, they have their work cut out for them,” said Ken Cuccinelli, head of the Senate Conservatives Fund. “Not only do voters in Utah value him, there are thousands of freedom-loving Americans across the country who are ready to go to battle for him.”

The tea party ended with little to show for its election battles in 2014. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was unseated in a primary, but senators they targeted managed to survive in Kansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky. But the chief storyline of 2014 was the GOP establishment getting its candidates and those candidates going on to capitalize, winning many of the seats Democrats had to defend.

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