Free Republic

The resounding victory that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell scored over "tea party" businessman Matt Bevin this past week has thrown the media into a tizzy. Is the "tea party" dead? Did the GOP establishment kill it? Or did the GOP subsume the tea party, taking its candidates, its issues, and its ideology for the GOP? Nate Silver writes that recent "tea party vs. establishment GOP" stories are inadequate: The term “tea party” is applied very loosely by the political media. Was Missouri Rep. Todd Akin a member of the tea party, for instance? Weigel says no: Most groups associated...

With decisive primary victories by U.S. Senate candidate Ben Sasse in Nebraska and U.S. House candidate Alex Mooney in West Virginia, the establishment’s dream of electing more status quo-supporting candidates has been stopped after just one week. Sasse and Mooney, both fine conservative candidates, ran smart races and closed strong. When Thom Tillis won the U.S. Senate primary in North Carolina last week (which took millions in establishment funds to make happen), D.C. elites, along with the mainstream media, were giddy as they wrote a seemingly never-ending stream of conservative candidate obituaries. I was entertained by the tone of the...

Ben Sasse wins the US Senate primary in Nebraska. Alex Mooney wins congressional primary in West Virginia. Pete Rickets currently ahead for in the republican primary for governor on Nebraska.

Former Maryland GOP Chairman Alex Mooney has won the Republican primary for West Virginia’s second congressional district, according to the Associated Press, beating pharmacist Ken Reed and former U.S. International Trade Commissioner and state legislator Charlotte Lane.With 74.9 percent of precincts reporting, Mooney had 35 percent of the vote to Reed’s 22 percent, and Lane was running third with 18.4 percent.Those were the three leading candidates, but it was a seven-way brawl to replace Rep. Shelley Moore Capito who is leaving her House seat to run for the Senate. This is a clear victory for the tea party as Mooney...

Ben Sasse 27,204 Sid Dinsdale 16.218 Shane Osborn 14,424

On Saturday, Tea Party activists ousted a top ally of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) from a key Virginia chairmanship in Cantor's own district, underscoring discontent Cantor is facing from conservative activists at home. Conservatives mobilized against Linwood Cobb – the powerful, incumbent 7th district GOP Chair who was working with Cantor's top establishment consultants and political action committees to take power away from grassroots delegates – to elect Fred Gruber to the chairmanship. The victory was surprising because Cantor's district, in the state capital of Richmond, is home to much of the GOP establishment machinery that wards off...

After the Republican establishment gloated on Tuesday for surviving primary challenges against underfunded Tea Party challengers, conservative talk radio host Mark Levin ripped into the Republican leadership for preferring candidates they can coerce to support policies their conservative constituents oppose. Levin said the question of whether the Tea Party is dead is a stupid one, and he asked why establishment Republicans were spending "millions of dollars laundered through Karl Rove's group and Mitch McConnell's National Republican Senatorial Committee" to fight and trash conservatives: "These "Republican leaders" only want to be in the majority if they can control the people we...

Tea party challengers to incumbent Republican senators have faded in Kentucky, Kansas and Mississippi, but in two open-seat primaries tea party candidates are showing some signs of life. Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) is headed to North Carolina Monday to campaign for Greg Brannon, a physician who trails the state house speaker and establishment choice, Thom Tillis, in most polling ahead of Tuesday’s primary election. Mr. Paul endorsed Mr. Brannon in October, and his trip to the state for events on the eve of the primary is aimed at keeping Mr. Tillis’s vote tally below 40%. If he doesn’t meet...

Most Americans know that our revolutionary history began when a handful of brave patriots tossed crates of tea into Boston Harbor to protest unfair taxation. But what they might assume incorrectly is that our forefathers did so in response to increased taxes. In fact, the Tea Act of 1773 actually lowered taxes on imports. What truly offended the colonists was that it only lowered them for one corporation, the politically connected East India Company, giving it an unfair, artificial advantage over smaller, local American competitors. Thus, not only was the American idea hatched in protest to a government that was...

The tense standoff at the Cliven Bundy ranch in Clarke County, Nevada tapped into a wellspring of government distrust that dwarfed Bundy's specific situation. A comparable event from just over 200 years ago, the “Whiskey Rebellion,” suggests the government's efforts to quell small pockets of insurrection like Bundy and his allies can easily cause more political problems than they're worth. Although the 1794 incident was at a vastly larger scale than the standoff in Bunkerville, Nevada, the situations share important parallels including the use of what many people in each situation considered the disproportionate use of force by the government....

<p>The relationship (or lack thereof) between the mainstream of the Republican party and the tea party has long been pooh-poohed by GOP strategists as standard operating procedure for a party out of the White House. The base and the establishment feud and, in the end, the base falls in line, they argue. But what if the tea party movement represents something new -- and less manageable -- for the establishment heading into the 2016 presidential race?</p>

In five years, the tea party has launched some of the most charismatic and controversial Republicans in office today, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Who are the movement’s top candidates this cycle, and what are their prospects? Here’s a look: 1. Mississippi: Chris McDaniel vs. Thad Cochran In the early going, tea party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel was seen as the strongest challenger to a sitting US senator this cycle. He’s a young (early 40s), energetic trial lawyer and former talk radio host, with six years' service in the state legislature – and he...

Conservative writer Ann Coulter is enthusiastically endorsing Tea Party-backed candidate David Brat in his primary challenge of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in the upcoming June primary, citing Cantor's support for immigration reform. In her nationally syndicated column, Ms. Coulter wrote that her endorsement was based on Brat's opposition to Cantor's immigration policies. Ms. Coulter labeled Cantor a "Maniacal Amnesty Supporter" in the column, and described him as "amnesty-addled." "Cantor says 'immigration reform could be an economic boon to this country,'" wrote Coulter. "You don't have to be an economics professor [like Dave Brat] to know that bringing in...

The controversy over a Nevada rancher’s decades-long use of public land without paying federal grazing fees has quickly become a national issue — one that Glenn Beck on Monday urged Americans to fully understand before taking a side on. “We did some research online with PsyID today, and found that there’s about 10 or 15 percent of the people who are talking about this online that are truly frightening,” Beck said on his television program. “They don’t care what the facts are. They just want a fight.” Beck said there are many “decent, small-government proponents from groups like the Tea...

BUNKERVILLE — Cliven Bundy’s fight with the Bureau of Land Management over the federal agency’s roundup of his cattle attracted a diverse group of foot soldiers: fellow ranchers, Las Vegans and militia and patriot groups were among them. Their battle cry is the U.S. Constitution and liberty. They fear the federal government overstepping its bounds at every turn. This concern, in their view, applies to those from all walks of life, be it a rural Southern Nevada rancher or a militia member from northern Montana. Ultimately, the Bundy protest — which was defused Saturday when federal land officials agreed to...

For Immediate Release: Contact: Rosanna Pulido April 14, 2014 Rick Biesada tel. 773-771-3927 Chicago, IL – The head of the Illinois Minuteman Project and former Republican candidate for Congress, Rosanna Pulido, announced that her group, along with The Chicago MInutemen Project group and grassroots organizations, is holding a “SAVE THE AMERICAN WORKER RALLY” at 1:00 pm Tuesday, April 22, at the corner of Michigan and Van Buren Streets in downtown Chicago. Pulido said the rally is being held to protest a gathering of well-heeled Republican politicians, lobbyists, and corporate CEOs pushing amnesty for illegal aliens at the nearby Chicago Club...

In an interview with TheBlaze in connection with the release of his new book, “A Nice Little Place on the North Side: Wrigley Field at One Hundred,” we spoke with columnist and author George Will on all things baseball and his unified theory of beer, and then moved on to the arguably more important topic of the state of the union, touching on everything from the American founding, Will’s affinity for the Tea Party, to 2016, to immigration. Among other explosive comments, Will told us that he is “quite confident that we’re going to rebel against this abusive government…sooner or...

Tea party groups are organizing this weekend to protest the “betrayal” by GOP House leadership and twenty-five other members at a tropical summit organized by a group working to undermine the Tea Party. “Come to Amelia Island for our rally, and if you have time and resources, stay for a weekend of RINO hunting!” a local Florida tea party announcement touted. The summit, sponsored by a sub group PAC of the Republican Main Street Partnership, is taking place at the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida. Tea party protesters are expected to begin rallying Thursday evening and throughout the weekend...

House Speaker John Boehner’s top allies are racing out the door to retirement, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Top Boehner allies that are retiring in 2014 include four committee chairmen: Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) of the Intelligence Committee, Buck McKeon (R-CA) of the Armed Services Committee, Doc Hastings (R-WA) of the Natural Resources Committee and Dave Camp (R-MI) of the Ways and Means Committee. One of Boehner closest friends, Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA), is retiring this year, and another—Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID)—may lose his seat in a primary in Idaho against conservative Bryan Smith. “In a Capitol where accomplishments are...

Conservative critics of government are “freaks,” are “in for a pretty rough ride,” and “will need their Kevlar,” i.e., bullet-proof vests. These statements didn’t come from the Obama administration or some radical leftwing organization. They are Facebook posts of a Republican elected official in Virginia’s Fauquier County. Fauquier drew national attention in 2012 for charging farmer Martha Boneta with violating the law by having a birthday party for eight little girls without a permit and zoning site plan. The highly charged posts of county supervisor Holder Trumbo came shortly after two recent events, and are emblematic of the civil war...