State lawmaker Raul Labrador beat party establishment pick Vaughn Ward

Tea Party Pushes Idaho Dark Horse Republican to a Primary Win?

By Warner Todd Huston
Thursday, May 27, 2010

State lawmaker Raul Labrador beat party establishment pick Vaughn Ward to win the Republican nomination for U.S. Representative for Idaho’s 1st District this week. While Ward was supported by the national party, Labrador received the support of Idaho’s largest Tea Party Group, Tea Party Boise. The question that immediately comes to mind is just what effect did the Tea Party group’s support have on the race?

Labrador won in a 47.6 percent to 38.9 percent tally on Wednesday afternoon. Sadly it was again a low-turnout at the polls.

Late in the race Tea Party Boise endorsed Labrador as campaign troubles mounted for party pick Vaughn Ward. Labrador had trouble throughout raising money, but still won the primary. One wonders if the support of Tea Party Boise was enough to bridge the money gap for Labrador?

On March 15 I posted an interview I did with Glenn Reynolds in which he posited that with Tea Party groups behind any particular candidate, money is a bit less important. “In many ways,â€