Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is the new president of the Senate Conservatives Fund.
"One of Virginia's strongest grass-roots conservatives is joining our team," Matt Hoskins, the organization's executive director, said in a statement Wednesday
on its website.
Hoskins also referenced House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's loss in the state's Republican primary on Tuesday, calling it "a major victor for freedom" for "the grass-roots in Virginia."
Cantor, 51, who
resigned his leadership post Wednesday, lost to little-known college professor David Brat, 49, a political newcomer who was backed by the tea party. It was one of the biggest political upsets of the 2014 campaign season.
Cuccinelli, 45, a Republican, lost the race for Virginia governor to Democrat Terry McAuliffe in November. He served a four-year term as attorney general and spent eight years in the Virginia Senate, from 2002 to 2010.
"I'm excited to join the Senate Conservatives Fund to help elect more conservatives who are willing to fight to save our country,"
Cuccinelli said in a statement. "SCF is a grassroots organization — and I'm optimistic that, together, we can change Washington by changing the people we send there."
In a video message, Cuccinelli called himself an "unwavering constitutional conservative" — adding that the fund would continue to "stand up to the status quo, continuing to support conservative candidates wherever we find them, and, yes, that means continuing to take on Republican incumbents who’ve lost their way.
"Standing up to the establishment isn’t easy, but it is the right thing to do if we are going to save our country," Cuccinelli said.
The Senate Conservatives Fund was founded in 2008 by former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, now the president of the Heritage Foundation. The super PAC is backing many candidates supported by the tea party in this fall's congressional races.
They include Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who forced longtime incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran into a June 24 runoff; Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon, who faces Rep. James Lankford in a GOP primary that same day; and Ben Sasse, a Nebraska college president who will square off in November for the seat being vacated by Sen. Mike Johanns.
The fund also backed Iowa state
Sen. Joni Ernst, who faces Democrat Rep. Bruce Braley in a Nov. 4 race to succeed the retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin.
Ernst also has support from establishment Republicans.