The only place the tea party did not do well was in Senate primaries against incumbants, and it wasn’t much different than the past two cycles. In 2010, Lee picked off the Utah incumbant, but in a convention or caucus vote (can’t recall Utah politics 4 years later). Other than that, we won the open primaries. In 2012, we picked off Lugar. Why? He was older than dirt, out of touch and didn’t even in live in Indiana. That was it. In 2014, we didn’t defeat an incumbant, but McDaniel was an inch from winning one with the same dynamics as Lugar’s defeat. The only difference is the overwhelming force of the crony-class dollars and the Misssissippi boss-hog political machine run by the Barbors. Without the mischief we pick up that one and have the same incumbent defeats as the previous two cycles.
We got Sasse in against a very powerful attempt by McConnell to black ball him. We got Ernst, who is a solid addition. We got Cotton who should be a good asset, especially on foreign issues. The only open seat we might have been able to get otherwise was NC. Tillis was not the best choice, but it is what it is.
This will be spun as something it’s not, but it was a very good tea party year and the new majority will give our conservative caucus much more influence than in the current Senate. No doubt, there are going to be skirmishes with the McConnell wing, but we’ll have some better results than 2011-2014.
I also think there is now potential for some of those who fell short this year to return in 2016 to mount House challenges.
For instance, Rob Maness who outperformed polls in the Louisiana senate race, could definitely mount a credible challenge to RINO Charles Boustany Jr.
In North Carolina, I would love to see a Brannon challenge to someone in North Carolina (unfortunately, moderate Ellmers seems pretty safe).
Chris McDaniel should definitely seek something in Mississippi