{"id":2012801,"date":"2023-08-26T05:56:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T09:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/club-for-growth-staffer-jumps-into-va-senate-gop-primary-taking-aim-at-mitch-mcconnell\/"},"modified":"2023-08-26T05:59:09","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T09:59:09","slug":"club-for-growth-staffer-jumps-into-va-senate-gop-primary-taking-aim-at-mitch-mcconnell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/club-for-growth-staffer-jumps-into-va-senate-gop-primary-taking-aim-at-mitch-mcconnell\/","title":{"rendered":"Club for Growth staffer enters VA Senate GOP primary, targeting Mitch McConnell."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fclub-for-growth-staffer-jumps-into-va-senate-gop-primary-taking-aim-at-mitch-mcconnell%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2012801&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<blockquote>\n<h2>Scott Parkinson says &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-rep-moore-biden-impeachment-investigating-pelosis-role-in-1-6-riot-possible-for-gop-led-house-after-midterms\/\" title=\"GOP Rep. Moore: Biden Impeachment, Investigating Pelosi's Role in 1\/6 Riot Possible for GOP-led House After Midterms\">leadership power<\/a> is too consolidated at the top&#8217;<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure><figcaption>Mitch McConnell and\u200d Scott\u2062 Parkinson (Getty Images and scottparkinson.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>The Battle for Senate Races<\/h3>\n<p>In several 2024 Senate \u200braces, the \u200cRepublican establishment has intervened early to back the candidates it thinks are most viable in a general election\u2014Montana&#8217;s Tim Sheehy, West \u200cVirginia&#8217;s Jim Justice, Nevada&#8217;s Sam Brown\u2014potentially against primary challengers backed by the insurgent Club for Growth.<\/p>\n<p>In Virginia, it&#8217;s more of a cold war. Neither side has officially offered its \u200dbacking to a candidate, but if the Club \u200dfor Growth had to choose, one would guess it would cast its lot with Scott Parkinson, the former Hill staffer who \u2064is now the club&#8217;s lobbyist. And if Sen. Steve Daines (R., Mont.), the chairman of the National Republican\u200c Senatorial Committee, had his pick, he would probably back Hung Cao, a Navy combat veteran, Vietnamese refugee, and fundraising\u2063 powerhouse seen \u200cas\u2064 a rising star in the Republican Party.<\/p>\n<p>Although a Republican hasn&#8217;t won a U.S. Senate race in Virginia in two\u2064 decades, Republican governor Glenn\u200d Youngkin&#8217;s victory in 2021\u200c signaled that the party can compete statewide.<\/p>\n<h3>Shaking\u2064 Up \u200dSenate \u2064Leadership<\/h3>\n<p>Parkinson, for his part, told the <em>Washington Free \u200bBeacon<\/em> last week that leadership power in the Senate &#8220;is too consolidated \u200bat the top.&#8221; If he can make it\u2064 through a primary to unseat Democratic senator Tim Kaine next year, he wants to use his knowledge of Senate procedure and operations\u2064 to weaken the top \u2063brass\u2014currently Senate Minority Leader\u2063 Mitch\u2062 McConnell (Ky.) on the Republican side\u2014and give more power over votes and agenda-setting to rank-and-file senators.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When \u200byou have a legislative body\u2062 that\u200d includes everyone, \u2063I think you get better outcomes,&#8221; \u2064said Parkinson. &#8220;Senators want to be a part of\u2062 the legislative process, \u200cthey want to offer amendments, they want\u200b to be able to have their voice be heard, and not \u200cjust be told\u200b [by leadership], &#8216;Well, you&#8217;re not going to get\u2062 your \u200dvote.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Parkinson&#8217;s Senate bid comes amid a broader battle between McConnell and\u200d Club for Growth, which is backing\u200d challengers to GOP leadership-preferred candidates in multiple states. On Wednesday, \u200bClub for Growth released an \u200cad slamming West \u200bVirginia&#8217;s Justice\u2014who is \u2064running\u2064 for Democratic senator Joe Manchin&#8217;s seat\u2014as &#8220;the establishment&#8217;s handpicked candidate&#8221; and &#8220;McConnell&#8217;s man, not\u200d West\u200b Virginia&#8217;s.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A Club for Growth spokesman said &#8220;we have not endorsed in the race\u2062 and \u200d [have] nothing to announce at this time.&#8221; An NRSC spokesman said that it\u2064 also &#8220;hasn\u2019t\u200d weighed \u2063in on the Senate primary \u200cin \u200cVirginia.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While the Club for Growth hasn&#8217;t\u2063 yet backed a candidate in the Virginia Senate race\u2014the endorsement process is \u2063ongoing\u2014Parkinson serves \u200das vice president \u200bof\u200b government affairs for the group.<\/p>\n<h3>Fighting for Change<\/h3>\n<p>Parkinson \u200dsaid he would like to \u2062strengthen the &#8220;Breakfast Club,&#8221; a small group of gadfly conservative senators opposed to McConnell, and push back against \u2062Republican leadership in a similar way to how the House Freedom Caucus earlier this year forced concessions out of \u200cSpeaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Freedom \u200bCaucus meets a lot more frequently, and is more organized,&#8221; said Parkinson.\u2063 &#8220;If I&#8217;m elected\u2062 senator, I&#8217;ve got the ability to bring people together and build coalitions in the Senate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Parkinson \u200calso wants to fight what he calls &#8220;lies from\u2064 the cloakroom&#8221;\u2014the tactics that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-vowed-to-elect-more-women-they-did-just-that\/\" title=\"Republicans Vowed To Elect More Women...They Did Just That\">party leadership<\/a> uses to rein in\u200b members on difficult votes. Parkinson said\u200d he saw these tactics for years while working as an aide to three senators and\u200d later as chief of staff\u2063 to then-representative Ron DeSantis \u2064of Florida.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;ll say, &#8216;Oh, Senator XYZ is dropping his objection, you&#8217;re the last senator [holding up the vote],'&#8221; Parkinson said. &#8220;They&#8217;ll say, &#8216;We can all get out of here five hours \u200dearlier \u200dif you just lift your\u200b hold.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you understand how to confront the lies that are sometimes brought out of \u2062the Senate cloakroom, and use your \u200dpower as a senator on the floor, they\u2063 can&#8217;t\u2064 stop you,&#8221; Parkinson said.<\/p>\n<h3>Preserving America&#8217;s Values<\/h3>\n<p>Senators who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/club-for-growth-staffer-jumps-into-va-senate-gop-primary-taking-aim-at-mitch-mcconnell\/\" title=\"Club for Growth staffer enters VA Senate GOP primary, targeting Mitch McConnell.\">repeatedly buck \u2063party leadership\u200c tend<\/a> to\u2064 be unpopular in \u2062a chamber that has \u2062traditionally valued collegiality and runs on horse-trading. But \u200bParkinson said he doesn&#8217;t mind losing friends in the pursuit of\u2062 his values, particularly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-newsom-lifts-calif-lockdown-orders-amid-mounting-backlash\/\" title=\"Gov. Newsom lifts Calif. lockdown orders amid mounting backlash\">economic freedom<\/a> and constitutional rights.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That means objecting, \u2064even when you&#8217;re the so-called turd in the punchbowl, and\u2064 it&#8217;s unpopular,&#8221;\u2064 he said. &#8220;I\u200c want to be the voice that\u2063 is willing to stand up and be remembered for trying to preserve \u200dAmerica, because I think that the constitutional framework that we have is greatly \u200bthreatened by\u2064 the left.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scott Parkinson believes that leadership power is excessively concentrated at the top. The Republican establishment has already intervened in various 2024 Senate races, supporting candidates like Tim Sheehy in Montana, Jim Justice in West Virginia, and Sam Brown in Nevada. This could potentially pit them against primary contenders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":2012802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2012801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2012801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2012802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2012801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2012801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2012801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}