Hours after state Senator Robert Hurt won the Republican nomination in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, both Feda Morton and Ron Ferrin emailed their supporters to congratulate the new nominee and to pledge their support for his candidacy (other former opponents might have sent similar emails, but I only received them from Morton and Ferrin). Jim McKelvey, who was Sen. Hurt’s closest competitor, also emailed his supporters, but instead of endorsing Hurt, McKelvey announced that he planned to form a political action committee (PAC):
Tonight, Robert Hurt was elected to be the Republican Candidate for Congress in the Fifth District. I congratulate him on his victory. I will not abandon all those who shared their hopes and ideals with me during the campaign. In the coming days, I will be forming a political action committee to bring together all those who share the same ideals as me of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and who will fight for a return to the essential foundations of our Republic as established by our Founding Fathers.
McKelvey’s PAC, since named “Take Our Country Back PAC,” is intended to support citizen-legislators throughout the 5th District who will champion the same issues McKelvey promoted during his campaign for the Republican nomination. Could Sen. Hurt expect to benefit from Take Our Country Back PAC? He could certainly use the assistance with fundraising as incumbent Tom Perriello already has $1.4 million on-hand (not including $606,000 raised during the first quarter of 2010) ready for what is certain to be an expensive general election campaign. However, since McKelvey frequently dismissed Sen. Hurt as a career politician and a “RINO” (especially after absorbing several former Morton staffers), Hurt might not be the obvious beneficiary of a PAC designed to support “candidates who have never run for public office” and who will “sponsor and support legislation that I proposed during my campaign.”
If Take Our Country Back PAC does not assist the Republican nominee, who might it assist? A possible answer is third-party challenger Jeff Clarke, a Tea Party activist from Danville who entered the race because he believes Sen. Hurt is a “situational conservative.” Even before the primary, the Danville Register & Bee was reporting that the McKelvey and Clark campaigns were sharing tent space at a Danville-area festival and that McKelvey’s Danville office was located in Clark’s place of business. As a staunch conservative and a political novice, Clark seems to be the exact type of candidate Take Our Country Back PAC seeks. If both McKelvey and Clark want to change the rules of politics frequently employed by the “establishment” by eschewing backroom deals, they have a strange way of demonstrating it. After narrowly losing the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, Ronald Reagan supported Gerald Ford. John McCain supported George W. Bush after a bitter primary in 2000. If Sen. Hurt is unsuccessful in his attempt to unseat Tom Perriello this November, Jim McKelvey might become the choice of many 5th District Republicans to run for the seat in 2012. However, if McKelvey uses his new PAC to support a third-party spoiler that ensures Tom Perriello a second term (and thanks to redistricting, possibly many more), McKelvey may find himself a persona non grata in conservative and Republican circles throughout Virginia for many years to come.
