Pro-Trump Great America Alliance Endorses in Three Senate Primaries
Rosendale, Morrisey and Blackburn received the group’s backing
Great America Alliance, an issue advocacy organization supporting President Donald Trump, on Wednesday made its first three Senate endorsements for the 2018 midterms.
Great America Alliance is backing Montana Auditor Matt Rosendale, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn. All three Republicans are seeking the GOP nod for Senate in their states.
“We will be the vehicle that runs real ground campaigns and ads in those states,” Eric Beach, co-chair of the Alliance, said Wednesday afternoon.
Beach expects the group to roll out additional Senate endorsements next week, with six to 12 total Senate endorsements planned for 2017. Beach is chief strategist to former Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward, and he expects the Alliance to back her challenge to Sen. Jeff Flake
The group will look at making House endorsements in 2018.
The Alliance has been interviewing Senate candidates, looking for candidates who will support a 51-vote threshold in the Senate and will fight for funding Trump’s border wall.
But Beach stressed that its mission isn’t just about taking out incumbents.
“Our goal is not to win primaries. Our goal is to make sure the new voter that’s there, that we keep them,” he said. Beach highlighted the new, low-propensity voters that Trump was able to turn out. He wants to find candidates who speak to the same voters.
“Instead of taking their votes for granted, we’re going to micro-target them in a lot of ways,” he said.
Great America will organize “roll-your-sleeves-up type of tactics,” Beach said, such as bus tours.
The Alliance’s political arm is Great America PAC, which says it raised and spent $30 million supporting Trump’s campaign. It also backed former Alabama judge Roy Moore in the state’s special Senate primary last month. It organized a bus tour for Moore fearing former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Sebastian Gorka.
Beach expects the group to spend a minimum of $20 million, but likely more depending on how much the group is able to raise.
Great America PAC made contributions to a handful of Senate candidates last cycle, including North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Colorado Republican Darryl Glenn, Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy and Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer (who’s facing re-election next year). At the House level, the PAC contributed to Michigan Rep. Jack Bergman, Florida Rep. Brian Mast, Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins, Republican Matt Connolly, who ran in Pennsylvania’s 17th District, and Nevada Republican Danny Tarkanian, who lost a bid for the 3rd District.