Tea-Party Group to Air TV Ad Attacking Mitch McConnell on Obamacare

A leading tea-party group, the Senate Conservatives Fund, has booked a $340,000 television-ad buy in Kentucky attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his failure to join the movement to defund Obamacare.

"McConnell's the Senate Republican leader, but he refuses to lead on defunding Obamacare," says the ad, a copy of which was shared with National Journal. "What good is a leader like that?"

The ad is set to air from Sept. 6 through Sept. 17, according to the group.

The Senate Conservatives Fund, which was founded by former Sen. Jim DeMint but is now independent of him, has not endorsed McConnell's Republican primary opponent, Matt Bevin. The group, however, is openly considering doing so and its executive director, Matt Hoskins, said in July that McConnell "needs to consider whether it might be time to hang it up." The fight to defund President Obama's health care law faces a key Oct. 1 deadline, and the ad says, "Tell Mitch McConnell to join the fight to stop Obamacare, before it's too late."

In a statement, Hoskins said, "If there was ever a time when Kentucky needed Mitch McConnell to deliver, it is now. We hope he listens to the voters and finds the courage to lead."

This is not the group's first anti-McConnell ad but the first one on television. At the end of August, the Senate Conservatives Fund paid $47,000 for a two-week radio buy urging McConnell to join the defund Obamacare movement.

The group, which has had the backing of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has also aired critical radio ads targeting Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.