A conservative group is running radio ads against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, as part of its push to replace the five-term incumbent with Matt Bevin in the GOP primary next year.
The Madison Project said in a news release that its new “Would a Conservative” ad will run statewide and is the first of several planned spots that the group hopes will highlight Mr. McConnell’s “record of hypocrisy.”
In the spot, the group dings Mr. McConnell for supporting “amnesty” in 1986 and 2006, the 2008 Wall Street bailout and a $2.4 trillion increase in the nation’s borrowing limit.
“Would a self-proclaimed conservative ’leader’ be undermining the conservative effort to defund Obamacare in Washington?” the narrator says in the ad. “Absolutely not. But that is exactly what Mitch McConnell is up to now.”
“After 28 years of Mitch McConnell claiming to be a conservative but then supporting big government policies, isn’t time conservatives dump Mitch McConnell?” the narrator says.
The Madison Project, a conservative fundraising group led by former Rep. Jim Ryun of Kansas, endorsed Mr. Bevin last month.
Mr. Bevin, a wealthy businessman, is trying to gain traction in the race against Mr. McConnell, who has raised questions about Mr. Bevin’s tax history and whether he lied about going to MIT.
The McConnell campaign recently released internal polling that showed him leading Mr. Bevin by 68 percent to 21 percent.
Whoever emerges from the GOP primary is expected to face off against Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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