State Sen. Kyle McCarter Endorsed by The Club for Growth

Republican congressional candidate Kyle McCarter today welcomed the support of The Club for Growth PAC, which endorsed him over incumbent nominee John Shimkus.

“The Club for Growth is the gold standard of conservative principles, and their endorsement today demonstrates that my message of fiscal restraint, core values, and free market economics is reaching true conservatives,” McCarter said.

A member of the Illinois State Senate, McCarter is seeking the party nomination in the state’s 15th Congressional District, which comprises much of the state’s southeastern quadrant from Danville in the north, Metropolis in the south, and going west to Madison county in the metro east.

During his tenure in the state senate, McCarter has consistently opposed spending and tax increases, while defending the core values of defense of life, economic freedom, and constitutional liberties including freedom of speech, religion and the Second Amendment.

In endorsing McCarter, The Club for Growth criticized incumbent John Shimkus for his votes to increase the nation’s debt ceiling, supporting the recent Obama spending package, raising his own pay, and reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.

“Shimkus is the epitome of what’s wrong with Congress,” the Club said in its announcement. “Shimkus was first elected nearly 20 years ago; that’s eight years longer than the term limits pledge he made in 1996.” Shimkus earned an annual Club for Growth rating of only 34 percent in 2014.

In contrast McCarter is term limiting himself in the Senate and committing to term limits in congress.

“If the Republican nomination is to mean anything, we need a candidate who has not strayed from our party’s principal beliefs,” McCarter said. “The Club for Growth is one of those rare organizations that provides unwavering support for those principles.”