Club For Growth Endorses Challenger To Gilchrest

The anti-tax Club for Growth today identified its first Republican scalp: moderate nine-term Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.).

The group, which endorses and helps fund fiscally conservative candidates, endorsed Gilchrest’s primary opponent, state senator Andrew Harris, who has been running a conservative campaign centered on support for the war in Iraq and opposition to pork-barrel spending.

The Club’s endorsement suggests they have no qualms about targeting other Republicans they view as insufficiently conservative.

Last year, they helped elect Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), who defeated then-Rep. Joe Schwarz in the GOP primary. And Onslow County Commissioner Joe McLaughlin, running in a primary against Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), met with the organization last week.

“This is a race we’ve had our eye on for a while. Gilchrest is especially vulnerable, and Harris was an especially good candidate,” said Club for Growth spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik.

A Club for Growth spokesman said the group is targeting Gilchrest because it deems him “one of the most economically liberal Republicans” in the House.

But his vulnerability this year may center on his opposition to the Iraq war. Gilchrest was one of two Republicans who voted for Democratic legislation calling for U.S. troops to return home beginning this fall.