The Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF), the grass roots organization founded by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., announced Monday that it won’t back the Senate candidacy of GOP Rep. Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia next year.
"Congresswoman Capito is not someone we can endorse, because her spending record in the House is too liberal," SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins,
said in a statement. "If Republicans in West Virginia want to save their country, they need to find another candidate with the courage to say 'no' to more spending and debt."
The group cites her votes in favor of the auto bailout and debt ceiling increase as two examples among many of her lack of dedication to reducing government spending.
“Rep. Capito has a pro-government, pro-Washington voting record,” the statement says. “In fact, Heritage Action for America gave her a dismal 48 percent conservative score. . . . Capito has a long history of supporting wasteful earmark spending, union wage mandates, and taxpayer funding for abortion.”
Capito is the candidate of the Republican establishment, Hoskins says. "They know she won't rock the boat when it comes to cutting deals with Democrats to spend money we don't have. If the grassroots in West Virginia recruit a strong, viable challenger, SCF will seriously consider supporting them."
West Virginia voters will send a conservative senator to Washington if given the opportunity, the SCF says. After all, Mitt Romney won 62.3 percent support there. “If Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller retires, as many expect, Republicans will have a strong chance of picking up the seat in 2014. It will be even more important that they nominate the strongest, most principled voice they can.”