GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund unveils first midterm endorsements

The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), the top GOP outside group supporting Republican House candidates, released its first slate of 2022 midterm endorsements Wednesday.

The CLF, which is closely tied to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), made the endorsements through its Trailblazers Fund. The new slate of endorsements was just the second in its history, after endorsing now-Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) in a special election last year.

The endorsements Wednesday are for 11 Republicans running for seats that are open, controlled by Democrats or newly created under the redistricting process. 

The candidates are Juan Ciscomani in Arizona, Esther Joy King in Illinois, Amanda Adkins in Kansas, former Rep. Bruce Poliquin in Maine, former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in Montana, Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey, Morgan Luttrell in Texas, Monica De La Cruz in Texas, Wesley Hunt in Texas, Jen Kiggans in Virginia and Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin.

“We need 5 seats to take back the House Majority and these trailblazers are the first that will get the job done,” CLF President Dan Conston said in a statement. “Each of these 11 candidates have demonstrated they have exactly what it takes to earn the trust of voters and win in November.”

The CLF first created the Trailblazer Fund, its hard-dollar arm, last year so it could endorse candidates and provide funds directly to them.

The CLF said more endorsements under the fund would be “announced in the coming months.”

Republicans are increasingly bullish that they will be able to take back the House later this year. Besides needing to flip only a handful of seats, Republicans are also buoyed by low approval ratings for President Biden and the historical trend that the party in the White House typically loses seats in the first midterm of a new administration.