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FreedomWorks’ biggest wins and losses The tea party-aligned group has made a name backing conservative candidates, but it hasn’t always been successful.
Mike Lee
FreedomWorks was an early supporter of Mike Lee, right, in his 2010 challenge of Sen. Robert F. Bennett, a three-term Republican from Utah.
Chip Somodevilla
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Getty Images
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FreedomWorks cited Bennett’s “support for the TARP bill, his promotion of health care legislation that includes an individual mandate” in its high-profile endorsement of Lee, who defeated Bennett, left, in the 2010 Utah Republican primary.
Steve C Wilson
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AP
In 2012, FreedomWorks named as it’s first target another Utah Republican, six-term Sen. Orrin G. Hatch. “The state of Utah is far more fiscally conservative than Orrin Hatch is,” said Russ Walker, vice president of political and grass-roots campaigns for FreedomWorks PAC. “It’s an opportunity to pick up a seat, it’s an opportunity to find somebody who is better.” But unlike in 2010, the group came up short in the primary, while making a powerful enemy in the process. “I don’t have any respect for FreedomWorks,” Hatch, who won reelection, said in an interview with Fox News.
Melina Mara
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The Washington Post
Ted Cruz
In June 2011, FreedomWorks jumped into the race to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) with an endorsement of Ted Cruz, the state’s solicitor general. Cruz, the son of a Cuban immigrant whose father fought in the Cuban Revolution on the side of Fidel Castro before fleeing Cuba in 1957, upset Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who had the backing of Gov. Rick Perry, in a May 2012 Republican primary runoff. Cruz went on to win easily in November.
Melissa Phillip
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Houston Chronicle via AP
Sharron Angle
In June 2010, FreedomWorks threw its support behind Sharron Angle, the Nevada assemblywoman challenging the Senate’s most powerful Democrat, Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). While Angle won the GOP primary, she repeatedly drew criticism for her bombastic rhetoric, most notably when an interview surfaced in which she said “if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies . . . . ”
Isaac Brekken
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Associated Press
Reid was widely viewed as one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Democrats and trailed in many polls in the final weeks of the election, but he defeated Angle in November by five percentage points.
Melina Mara
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The Washington Post
Richard Mourdock
In October 2011, FreedomWorks took aim at Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), right, with its endorsement of Indiana’s conservative state treasurer Richard Mourdock. Lugar, who served six terms in the upper chamber and is one of the chamber’s last remaining moderate Republicans, failed to take Mourdock’s challenge seriously until it was too late. Lugar was defeated handily in the GOP primary.
Chip Somodevilla
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Getty Images
However, what seemed like a big victory for the tea party movement turned into a stunning defeat, when Mourdock’s campaign imploded after he became the second GOP Senate candidate in the 2012 elections to make controversial comments about rape and abortion. Mourdock, who had been the favorite heading into the general election, lost in November to Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.).
Michael Conroy
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AP
Joe Miller
After attorney Joe Miller defeated incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in the 2010 primary race with the backing of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, FreedomWorks threw its support behind Miller’s insurgent bid. The organization citing Miller’s opposition to “all encroachments on individual freedom, including Obamacare, job-killing cap and trade energy regulation, and all unnecessary tax hikes.”
Michael Dinneen
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AP
FreedomWorks vowed to support Miller with “numerous Get Out The Vote efforts, including direct mailings, yard sign distribution, volunteer phone banks and neighborhood literature drops leading up to Election Day.” But it wasn’t enough to propel him to victory in November. After mounting an independent bid, Murkowski became the first Senate candidate in half a century to win with a write-in campaign.
Brendan Smialowski
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Getty Images
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Section:/politics
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