The Club for Growth PAC announced today that it is endorsing Gary Palmer for Congress in Alabama’s 6th Congressional District runoff, after previously supporting Dr. Chad Mathis in the primary.
“We’ve always considered both Chad Mathis and Gary Palmer to be supporters of limited government and economic freedom, but our research told us that Chad Mathis had the best chance to make the runoff with Paul DeMarco. We were obviously mistaken and the credit goes to Gary for running a great campaign in the primary,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “Now we have the option of supporting taxpayer hero Gary Palmer and there’s no question that he is the choice of fiscal conservatives looking to put America on a path to prosperity.”
The Club has been one of the most active Washington, D.C.-based conservative groups in Republican primaries over the last several election cycles, often going toe-to-toe with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber and their allies had beaten back a series of tea party-styled candidates around the country in recent months, but with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor going down on Tuesday and long-time U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran on the ropes in Mississippi, grassroots conservatives seem to be having a bit of a resurgence on the national stage.
The big question in Alabama’s 6th Congressional District is whether the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will jump in behind Paul DeMarco, setting up another “Tea Party vs. Establishment” matchup (Note: That’s extremely oversimplified, but that’s how the national media would frame it.)
Most recently in Alabama, the Chamber came in strong behind Bradley Byrne when grassroots conservative groups threw their support behind Dean Young in Alabama’s 1st Congressional District.
Sources familiar with the Chamber’s thinking told Yellowhammer today that it is highly unlikely that the Chamber will get involved in the Palmer-DeMarco matchup because “they are fine with either candidate.”
“From the outside looking in a lot of people probably view Gary as the most ‘tea party’ of the two candidates, but people in the business community view him as sort of a ‘thinking man’s conservative,’ due to his time running (the Alabama Policy Institute),” the source said. “Don’t get me wrong, the Chamber knows DeMarco really well and would be thrilled if he won, but Gary’s not the kind of candidate they’re going to go way out of their way to stop from getting elected.”
If that’s the case, Club for Growth could mitigate DeMarco’s fundraising advantage by pouring some money into the runoff either pumping up Palmer or tearing down DeMarco.
Third party groups like the Club for Growth are not allowed to coordinate directly with campaigns, but are at liberty to influence races through independent expenditures. Their ads aimed at businessman Will Brooke in the AL-06 primary are widely credited with derailing his chances of getting into the runoff.
If they jump in big behind Palmer, and the Chamber stays on the sidelines, this race could get really interesting, really fast.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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