As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce identifies its targets for the 2016 congressional cycle, Kansas representative Tim Huelskamp and other House Freedom Caucus members may well find themselves in the group’s crosshairs.
According to sources familiar with its internal deliberations, the Chamber has discussed Huelskamp as a “prime target” for unseating. That the group may be laying the groundwork for a challenge several months in advance of the GOP primary in Kansas’s first district is one sign of a restive GOP establishment looking to strike back.
“The Chamber is going to spend most of its money protecting incumbents like Martha Roby,” one source says. “But getting Huelskamp out . . . is important.”
Huelskamp has drawn the ire of the Chamber and its allies as a consistent and vocal adversary of House leadership, raising eyebrows among many when, upon John Boehner’s resignation, he tweeted, “Today the establishment lost.” And there’s another reason he’s an attractive target for the group: One of his two primary challengers — Roger Marshall, an OB-GYN from Great Bend — has emerged as a credible threat, outraising him over the last two quarters.
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