1 year ago
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In an entirely unsuccessful effort to persuade Kevin McCarthy's intra-party enemies to lay down arms, two of the biggest Republican super PACs announced a bizarre agreement on Wednesday evening. The terms of the deal—between the Congressional Leadership Fund, which is closely linked to McCarthy and House GOP leadership, and the Club for Growth, which typically butts heads with the establishment—are as follows: CLF says it "will not spend in any open-seat primaries in safe Republican districts" or fund any other groups that would, while the Club agreed to endorse McCarthy's speakership bid.
Not a single anti-McCarthy rebel switched sides in several more humiliating rounds of voting on Thursday as a result, but what remains to be seen is how CLF interprets the pact. Many far-right Republicans deeply resent the influence that CLF, which spends more money on House races than any other GOP group, wields over primaries. In fact, some of these malcontents expressly raised this issue in a letter to their colleagues last month, arguing, "While organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Club for Growth have a role to play in primaries, Republican leadership does not."
