DeMint backs Raese in W.Va. Senate race

DeMint endorsed Raese in an e-mail to supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund Tuesday. 

“John is a principled conservative leader who has a strong chance of winning this critical race and really needs our help,” DeMint wrote in an e-mail that doubled as a fundraising appeal for Raese, who is battling Gov. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in the race to fill the seat of the late-Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). 

The message directs supporters to a donation link on the website of DeMint’s PAC and hits Manchin for supporting “a cap-and-trade energy tax,” along with “government-controlled healthcare” and the stimulus. 

“If John Raese wins, he will join a group of new Republicans in the Senate who will honor their oaths to support and defend the Constitution,” DeMint concluded. “He will help us take our country back.”

Raese gained traction in the race by consistently hammering Manchin as “a rubber stamp for President Obama” in campaign ads. The latest Rasmussen poll gives Raese a three-point lead over the popular governor. 

But Manchin has worked to distance himself from the president, literally shooting a copy of the cap-and-trade bill in a recent campaign ad and pledging to support repeal of parts of the healthcare law.

DeMint has, at times, been a thorn in the side of the Senate GOP this election cycle. DeMint played a major role in several Republican primaries, providing vocal backing and fundraising support to Tea Party candidates in Kentucky, Nevada, Alaska and Delaware.  

DeMint and the Senate Conservatives Fund have also angered some Senate Democrats who say he has parted with an unspoken rule of decorum between Senators to not engage in electioneering against fellow members.  

The Senate Conservatives Fund has run campaign ads against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and has been a vocal opponent of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is waging a write-in bid to keep her Senate seat after losing the GOP primary to Tea Partier Joe Miller.