Virginia state Sen. Robert Hurt, hailed as a first-rate House candidate when he jumped into the race against Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello, is getting conspicuously chilly treatment these days from the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Though the freshman Perriello is a top GOP target and Hurt won the endorsement of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, a fellow Virginian, the NRCC has so far excluded Hurt from its expansive list of 115 leading recruits in the committee’s “Young Guns” program that supports challengers.
Republican strategists in Washington privately acknowledge that while they helped recruit Hurt into the race, they have hesitated to offer additional backing as Hurt competes against several primary opponents who have labeled him a political insider.Hurt has already received money from the political action committees of Republican leaders including John Boehner, the House’s top-ranking Republican, and Kevin McCarthy, the California congressman who heads up recruiting for the NRCC.
But the legislator has also struggled to win over grassroots conservatives and explain votes he cast in favor of higher state taxes.
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