A Republican group is raising and spending large sums of money defending Senator Josh Hawley after he was ostracized by the attack in early January on the United States Capitol.
Why does it matter: The Senate Conservatives Fund is protecting Hawley’s ideological good faith and filling the lost corporate money with the necessary political and financial support, helping to vaccinate him as he ponders re-election or a possible presidential campaign in 2024.
What is happening: The SCF, a political action committee that supports candidates to the right of the Senate, began sending pro-Hawley emails and text messages days after the Capitol siege on January 6. The Missourian was guilty of helping to feed him by leading a challenge to President Biden’s election victory certification.
- “The decision by the Missouri junior senator to oppose the election results showed tremendous courage. It brought instant contempt from the media and even a public rebuke from the Senate leader himself,” wrote Mary Vought, the group’s executive director, in an e-mail.
- The archives of the Federal Election Commission show that the group has paid $ 397,782.53 since January 12 to send text messages and emails in support of Hawley.
- Spam blocking service RoboKiller estimates that SCF sent 2 million pro-Hawley text messages this month.
- The SCF has not reported independent spending in support of or opposition to any other federal political candidate since the second round of the Georgia Senate election on January 5.
The group is also raising money for Hawley directly. Vought told Axios that he “bundled” about $ 310,000 for the senator’s campaign committee.
- This fundraising occurs when dozens of corporate PACs declare donations to Hawley and others who voted against electoral certification.
- The sums he is likely to lose, however, are outweighed by the money the SCF is raising for him. Hawley’s campaign raised less than $ 200,000 from corporate PACs and commercial groups throughout 2019 and 2020.
Hawley insists on his gambit from the Electoral College it was not designed to overturn the election, simply to convey the concerns of its constituents about alleged voting irregularities.
- However, precipitation was rapid and severe. Democratic colleagues called for an ethical investigation, a major publisher abandoned Hawley’s planned book, and a new political group emerged with the explicit purpose of ousting him.
Between the lines: Although the SCF’s efforts are technically classified as political, they are more focused on defending him in the short term than on securing his re-election.
- “Hawley is defending conservative values of common sense,” said Vought, “and judging by the response we are seeing, many Americans agree with him.”