How We Find the Best Candidates

An important service for our members and tactic for Citizens Club for Growth is to conduct due diligence research on candidates to find out who is really committed to pro-growth policies such as low taxes and limited government.

The Club engages in a systematic and continuing review of every Congressional race in the country to find the best candidates and the most important races - the ones that will have the most impact on economic policies of the future.

Just because candidates call themselves "fiscal conservatives" or "friends of taxpayers" doesn't mean that they can be counted on to advance our issues. Let's face the facts, some candidates are good at talking the talk, but after they get elected they do just the opposite. The urgent email and letter fundraising appeals you get from candidates obviously only tells you what they think you will like.

Before we endorse a candidate, we dig deeply into their background. The candidates go through intensive interviews on economic policies conducted by our President, Pat Toomey and our executive director, David Keating. We want to know why they are running for office and what they would do if they got there.

Policy issues upon which the Club considers candidates include:

  • Taxes
  • Spending and size of government
  • Social Security and entitlements
  • Trade
  • Legal reform
  • School choice
  • Regulation

Beyond policy, the Club also considers a candidate's:

  • Level of proven leadership on growth issues
  • Potential to become a congressional or national leader
  • Willingness to oppose party leaders when they are wrong and otherwise take political risks
  • Personal background suggesting a strong understanding of growth issues

We conduct extensive research on the record, positions, and background of the would-be Club-recommended candidate and his or her opponents. Often, this research on a single candidate takes many days or even weeks. We normally send an experienced researcher into a candidate's district to interview people who know the candidate personally. Another researcher digs into the candidate's record as a public official or activist. We find out facts about candidates that often, no one outside the district even knows. Frequently, we also commission a poll to determine whether the pro-growth candidate has a realistic chance of winning.

Each campaign cycle, during the primary and general elections, the Club's endorsement committee will identify as many as 30 candidates for your consideration.

As a member of the Club, you will receive periodic profiles and in-depth assessments of these candidates so you can make your own decisions about whom to support. You can make these decisions with the assurance that the candidates are strongly committed to the ideas we care about and have a reasonable shot at winning their race.

What's more, your contributions will be matched with those of thousands of other Club members. Think of the effect your $50, $100, $500, $1,000 or $2,100 (maximum per Federal election) check will have on a race when it is part of a larger total donated by other members that reaches hundreds of thousands of dollars, perhaps even more than $1 million.

When you donate to a recommended candidate through Citizens Club for Growth PAC, your check is written out to the candidate's campaign account, and NOT the Club. This ensures that 100% of your contribution goes directly to help support that candidate's campaign, and not a penny is used for overhead.

Think of the impact of 10,000 Citizens Club for Growth members each contributing $200 to the best pro-growth candidate in an election. Together, they could contribute $2 million - the equivalent of 400 PACs each giving the legal maximum of $5,000.

Citizens Club for Growth's members can make a more significant contribution to the best pro-growth candidates - and make the politicians aware of the impact we can have in their election. When you contribute through Citizens Club for Growth PAC, politicians will know you are sending them money because you care about economic growth and freedom.

It doesn't end there. The Club will closely monitor the voting behavior of members of Congress. We will warn them in advance of what votes we will be watching, especially tax and budget votes. Hence, the Club hopes to have a disciplining effect on the way members of Congress vote. When Congressmen know they are being watched by a group of committed activists and donors, that helps them vote for pro-growth policies. The goal will be to eventually have a Congress successfully enacting our ideas for growth and prosperity.

Finally, if a Republican Congressman is not true to his party's principles of limited government and low taxes, then we will seriously consider backing a challenger in a primary.

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