So you (or someone you know) is a candidate for Congress, and you just know that you are exactly the kind of candidate we are looking for. How do you go about earning the endorsement of the House Conservatives Fund?

Because we act as the voice of the 110 Members of the Republican Study Committee, our process has several key steps and requirements. This way, we ensure that we have done our due diligence before weighing in on (and potentially swaying) an election.

Once a candidate has contacted us, we send them a copy of our questionnaire. This document asks about candidates' positions on a broad range of conservative issues, but it is not a litmus test. There are no "correct" answers - though, as conservatives, we're definitely looking for "right" answers - and this questionnaire simply allows us to inventory the positions of candidates who may not have public records on these issues the way incumbents do.

Along with the questionnaire, we make an effort to meet with every candidate we consider for support. This can be arranged in person, if the candidate has plans to be in Washington, DC, or we can speak over the phone. In these interviews, we tend to ask about issues not covered by our questionnaire, as well as details on the district, the campaign to date, and any opponents.

There are three things we look for before we can even consider supporting a candidate:

• Has the filing deadline passed? We will not weigh into a race until it is certain that the field of candidates is set.


• Does the candidate (or any other candidate in the race) have support from others in the conservative community? We try to avoid divisive primary fights against our allies. As a result, we tend to get involved in primaries when there is a case of a single true conservative running against one or more RINOs or where the number of supposed conservative candidates runs the risk of diluting the conservative vote and allowing a RINO to slip in with a plurality.


• Does the candidate have a real race? We don't have the luxury of supporting every good conservative out there, so we focus our efforts on those conservatives whose races are truly competitive. Consequently, there are some great conservatives who won't get HCF support because they simply don't need it to win. On the other hand, there are plenty of Republican candidates in contested races that won't receive HCF's endorsement because they have chosen not to run as true fiscal and social conservatives.
  

And there you have it. It's no great mystery what we're looking for: True conservative candidates running in the most hotly contested races across the country. We will support endangered incumbents, exciting challengers to Democrat incumbents, and candidates for open seats on both sides of the aisle.

The only candidates we will not consider are those who run in primaries against Republican incumbents - and that makes it all the more important that we play in open seat primaries, while we still have a say over whether the Republican nominee is a conservative or a RINO.

Posted By: House Conservatives Fund at 3:48:14 PM

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