Rockntractor
05-09-2012, 12:15 AM
By Tom Curry, msnbc.com National Affairs Writer
Updated at 9:50pm ET Republican foreign policy elder statesman Sen. Richard Lugar, 80, first elected to the Senate in 1976, was defeated in the Indiana primary Tuesday by state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who was backed by conservatives ranging from the National Rifle Association to local Tea Party activists to the Washington-based fiscal conservative group the Club for Growth.
Mourdock scored a landslide victory, winning more than 60 percent of the vote with almost all precincts reporting.
Looking toward the November election, National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said two weeks ago that “it will probably make it more of a contest if Sen. Lugar is not the nominee, but I’m confident we’ll hold the seat.”
In a statement Tuesday night once the outcome was clear, Cornyn said Mourdock "has the NRSC’s full support and we are committed to helping elect him as Indiana’s next U.S. Senator in November."
Conceding defeat, Lugar told his supporters "I hope that Richard Mourdock prevails in November so he can contribute to that Republican majority in the Senate."
Related: Lugar's goodbye
But Lugar also said that unless Mourdock "modifies his approach, he will achieve little as a legislator."
Within minutes of Mourdock's victory, leading Senate conservative Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina -- who'd stayed neutral in the primary -- sent a message to supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund, urging them to donate money to Mourdock.
"A year ago political pundits said Richard Mourdock couldn't win this race. They said he couldn't build the support needed to overcome the establishment machine. They were wrong," DeMint said.
Read More>http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/08/11604125-six-term-senate-veteran-lugar-defeated-in-indiana-primary?lite
Updated at 9:50pm ET Republican foreign policy elder statesman Sen. Richard Lugar, 80, first elected to the Senate in 1976, was defeated in the Indiana primary Tuesday by state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who was backed by conservatives ranging from the National Rifle Association to local Tea Party activists to the Washington-based fiscal conservative group the Club for Growth.
Mourdock scored a landslide victory, winning more than 60 percent of the vote with almost all precincts reporting.
Looking toward the November election, National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said two weeks ago that “it will probably make it more of a contest if Sen. Lugar is not the nominee, but I’m confident we’ll hold the seat.”
In a statement Tuesday night once the outcome was clear, Cornyn said Mourdock "has the NRSC’s full support and we are committed to helping elect him as Indiana’s next U.S. Senator in November."
Conceding defeat, Lugar told his supporters "I hope that Richard Mourdock prevails in November so he can contribute to that Republican majority in the Senate."
Related: Lugar's goodbye
But Lugar also said that unless Mourdock "modifies his approach, he will achieve little as a legislator."
Within minutes of Mourdock's victory, leading Senate conservative Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina -- who'd stayed neutral in the primary -- sent a message to supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund, urging them to donate money to Mourdock.
"A year ago political pundits said Richard Mourdock couldn't win this race. They said he couldn't build the support needed to overcome the establishment machine. They were wrong," DeMint said.
Read More>http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/08/11604125-six-term-senate-veteran-lugar-defeated-in-indiana-primary?lite