DeMint Defends His Involvement in Nebraska Primary

Conservative powerhouse Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., is unbowed by criticism of his financial involvement in the Nebraska Senate Republican primary held Tuesday.

DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund spent more than $900,000 assisting conservative Don Stenberg in the race, The Hill reports. DeMint’s idea was to stop state Attorney General Jon Bruning. That part of the strategy worked, but it was conservative state Rep. Deb Fischer who claimed the nomination.

Nebraska GOP Sen. Mike Johanns said Wednesday that DeMint should think twice about which states he targets. “I think you have to be very careful entering into the political fray in areas quite honestly you don’t understand,” he told National Journal.

But DeMint defends his involvement. “In Nebraska, we got in early because there was a conservative in Don Stenberg and there was one we did not feel would fare well in the general election in Bruning,” he said, according to The Hill. “If we hadn’t gotten involved, there would have never been a race.”