With Charlie Crist’s announcement Thursday of an independent run for the open US Senate seat for the state of Florida, news is out that the National Republican Senatorial Committee will back the remaining Republican candidate Marco Rubio. And NRSC’s leader wants his money back from Crist.
According to The Hill, Crist is irreparably damaging himself as a Republican, in the eyes of NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX). Cornyn, who initially backed Crist’s candidacy, said he would prefer that he continue his to run in the Republican primary, or – if dropping out – that he wait until 2012 and run against Bill Nelson (D-FL). Instead, Crist, who was elected Governor as a Republican, announced that he will run for the Senate this year as an independent.
The Club for Growth has indicated that it will mount a campaign to force Crist to return money from donors who thought he would be running as a Republican. Cornyn has indicated that he’s with CfG, saying that he wants the $10K donated to Crist by his own personal leadership PAC returned if Crist does indeed run as an independent.
