Tea Party Rep. Steve Stockman loses endorsement of right-wing PAC

Trailing Sen. John Cornyn in the polls, the Texas congressman fails to secure a coveted endorsement

Published January 14, 2014 2:30PM (EST)

 Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas                (Facebook/congressmanstockman)
Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas (Facebook/congressmanstockman)

Texas Rep. Steve Stockman's primary bid against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn was always something of a long shot, but with a right-wing PAC's recent announcement that it would support Cornyn in the GOP primary, the conservative provocateur's chances have gotten slimmer still.

Writing at the website for the Government Is Not God PAC (GING-PAC), Chairman William J. Murray let it be known that although he considers Stockman "the consummate conservative," GING-PAC would be endorsing Cornyn for reelection to the U.S. Senate.

Justifying the decision, Murray made reference to the "finite" amount of resources his PAC would have at its disposal for the 2014 elections. He went on to chastise Stockman for not understanding "the reality that in politics power is everything" and for challenging "fellow conservative" Cornyn.

"Senator John Cornyn is an asset to Texas, the Republican Party and the conservative movement, whereas Steve Stockman has abruptly moved from being a rising star to being an impediment to conservatives gaining control of the Senate in the upcoming election," Murray wrote.

More from the Huffington Post:

Stockman, whose spokesman did not return a request for comment, has another issue with GING-PAC. Murray told The Huffington Post his group donated $500 to Stockman's 2012 House race. That contribution is confirmed by the federal campaign records filed by GING-PAC.

But as the Sunlight Foundation noted Monday, Stockman never reported that donation. In total, according to Sunlight, "[n]ine political action committees reported contributions to the Stockman campaign that have not shown up in the campaign committee's financial disclosures."

While conservative groups were excited by Stockman's bid in 2012, he has had to inflate his resume of endorsements this time around.

Until last week, his campaign website listed 12 entities under "past and present endorsements," an unusual method of lumping together groups that are currently endorsing him with ones that may have endorsed his past bids for Congress. Seven of them haven't endorsed Stockman's Senate bid.


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

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