Kevin McCarthy’s defectors including Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert and other members of the ‘Patriot 20’ get $20M boost from conservative Club for Growth as GOP infighting in the House shows no signs of slowing

  • The Club for Growth will spend $20 million to defend the seats of 20 conservative House Republicans in the 2024 election 
  • Members include Reps. Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Anna Paulina Luna, Byron Donalds and Scott Perry 
  • The group’s president cheered the ‘Patriot 20’s’ efforts in getting concessions from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during the January speakership fight 

The conservative Club for Growth is pledging to spend $20 million to ensure that the House Republicans who nearly cost House Speaker Kevin McCarthy the speakership stay in their seats.

Politico obtained a memo Monday from Club for Growth’s President David McIntosh informing donors that the group planned to prop up what he’s labeling the ‘Patriot 20’ in both primaries and general elections next year.

Prominent members of the group include Reps. Lauren Boebert – who nearly lost her 2022 race to Democrat Adam Frisch – Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, freshman lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna, Byron Donalds and Scott Perry, the current chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana, who is mulling a Senate run, is also on the list.

‘Club for Growth Action is prepared to spend $20 million in defense of the Patriot 20, the group of members who fought to advance conservative priorities and establish a more transparent and accountable legislative process in the House during the Speaker negotiations in January,’ McIntosh said in the memo.

McIntosh warned that ‘moderate donor networks are already working to enact retribution against these conservative members who they perceive to be vulnerable to a primary challenge.’

‘Making our financial commitment public may serve as an effective deterrent to some potential challengers,’ he said.

Among the goals of the group is to keep five freshman lawmakers in their seats – Luna and Reps. Josh Brecheen, Eli Crane, Andy Ogles and Keith Self.

The memo also notes that the Democratic National Congressional Committee has already said they plan to target Boebert in Colorado, Luna in Florida and Perry in Pennsylvania.

Frisch has already announced he’s running against Boebert again and raised $2.6 million in the second quarter – a huge amount of money for a House race.

In 2022, he came within 600 votes of beating the prominent congesswoman.

One member who is noticeably missing from the list is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia lawmaker who recently got ousted by the House Freedom Caucus after calling Boebert a ‘little b****’ on the House floor.

Greene sided with McCarthy in the speakership fight and even got former President Donald Trump on the phone to court Republican lawmakers unwilling to vote in favor of the California congressman.

The speakership fight dragged on for 15 votes.

McCarthy had to give into concessions outlined by the group, referred to at the time as the ‘Never Kevins,’ but now rebranded by the Club for Growth as the ‘Patriot 20.’

In the midst of it, Greene and Boebert reportedly got into an argument in the women’s bathroom.

So far, most of the 20 members haven’t attracted serious primary challengers.

‘We are closely monitoring the re-election efforts of each conservative incumbent and will not hesitate to make independent expenditures to defeat moderate challengers,’ McIntosh said.

‘We will not compromise in our defense of these members,’ he added.