Rand Paul Not An Anomaly: More Fringe Tea Party Candidates Set To Knock Off Favored GOP Candidates

By Lee Fang

Last night, fringe tea party Senate candidate Rand Paul (R-KY) sailed to victory in his primary over Trey Grayson, the GOP candidate favored by Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and much of the Republican establishment. Not only did heavyweight Republicans like Dick Cheney and Rudy Giuliani stump for Grayson, but shadowy GOP front groups, like the American Future Fund — which casts itself as a tea party group — ran harsh attack ads hitting Paul. Paul’s success comes shortly after tea party candidates defeated incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) in the Utah primary, and tea party candidate Marco Rubio (R-FL) forced Charlie Crist out of the Republican Party.

Republican operatives orchestrated the tea party movement to lay the foundation for Republican electoral gains. However, the far right tea parties have been uncontrollable, demanding that Republican candidates support extreme positions like eliminating Social Security, Medicare, the Department of Education, and even the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Paul’s success has already sent ripples throughout the GOP establishment, with other ramifications in Kentucky and for upcoming GOP primaries:

– Todd Lally, an extremist who has said that President Obama wouldn’t be able to get a security clearance, road Paul’s coattails to defeat the establishment-backed candidate Jeff Reetz in the primary for Kentucky’s third congressional district. Reetz is a Pizza Hut franchise owner who received financial support from the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC).

– Vauhn Ward, Sarah Palin endorsed Republican candidate in Idaho’s first congressional district, is quickly losing favor with the Republican primary voters. The tea party-backed candidate, State Rep. Raul Labrador, is surging in the polls against Ward. NRCC leaders like chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) has hosted a fundraiser for Ward.

– In Pennsylvania’s third district yesterday, voters chose tea party candidate Mike Kelly over NRCC-endorsed candidate Paul Huber.

– In the Colorado U.S. Senate race, far right tea party candidate Ken Buck is surging in the polls against Jane Norton, the longtime Republican politician chosen by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to run.

As ThinkProgress reported earlier this year, extreme tea party candidates have sought to purge Republican incumbents and handpicked GOP candidates in races all over the country.