addressing a Tea Party Express rally in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2010 speaking to a Tea Party Express rally in Austin, Texas in 2012 The Tea Party Express' nominal activity is organizing cross-country bus convoys of Tea Party activists. The first, in September 2009, stopped in 33 cities and ended with a rally in Washington, DC. Its goal was to rally Americans "to oppose the out-of-control spending, higher taxes, bailouts, and growth in the size and power of government". The focus was opposition to government-run health care. A second tour began October 25, 2009 and stopped in 38 cities, ending November 11, 2009. It highlighted "some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses." Several tours for 2010 have been organized. In addition to organizing national bus tours of Tea Party activists, Tea Party Express leadership has endorsed conservative candidates running for state and federal offices such as
Christine O'Donnell,
Joe Miller,
Marco Rubio and
Sharron Angle. In March 2012, the Tea Party Express and
Americans for Prosperity organized a rally at the Capitol during the
Supreme Court's oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Campaigns funded The Tea Party Express began developing a reputation for aggressive action in January 2010, spending nearly $350,000 to back Republican
Scott Brown's bid for Senate, helping him win an upset victory in
Massachusetts. Scott Brown garnered support from the tea party by making defeat of
President Obama's
healthcare plan a signature issue. • In
Delaware, the Tea Party Express poured $250,000 into television and other advertisements, helping propel the underdog
Christine O'Donnell to a primary victory. O'Donnell lost in the general election. • The Tea Party Express spent nearly $1 million in
Nevada attempting to defeat Senator
Harry Reid. The group spent $547,000 to support
Sharron Angle, the Republican Senate candidate, and $385,000 in opposing Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader. Angle lost in the general election. • In
Alaska, the Tea Party Express backed political newcomer
Joe Miller, pouring $550,000 in advertising and support that helped Miller defeat longtime Senator
Lisa Murkowski, who the group said was too liberal and did not support "tea party values". Miller defeated Murkowski in the Republican primary, but lost to her in the general election, where she ran one of the only successful write-in campaigns in modern Senate history. In the 2012 cycle, the Tea Party Express identified two Democrats and two Republican targets for political defeat: Senator
Ben Nelson (D-NE), Senator
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Senator
Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Senator
Dick Lugar (R-IN). None were successful. The group endorsed
Nebraska Republican
Attorney General Jon Bruning to defeat
Ben Nelson. Nelson decided not to run for re-election, and Bruning lost the GOP primary to State Senator
Deb Fischer, who went on to win the general election. Snowe chose not to run for re-election, but the Republican nominee to replace her was defeated by Independent
Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats. Lugar lost his primary to the Tea Party-backed candidate, Indiana Treasurer
Richard Mourdock, but Mourdock lost to Democrat
Joe Donnelly after making controversial statements about rape. Stabenow won re-election by a wide margin, defeating Republican
Peter Hoekstra by 21 points.
Media attention at a Tea Party Express rally in 2011 Long-time Republican Representative
Mike Castle (R-DE), whose popularity in his state, combined with the Republican-favored political environment, led many observers to expect that he would defeat Democratic Senator
Chris Coons in 2010 before he lost the primary to
Christine O'Donnell, a controversial candidate who lost to Coons by almost 17 points, told
The Washington Post, "The Tea Party Express, which claims it's not a political party, is in reality a pretty good political operation. This is a more sophisticated political operation than they've been given credit for."
Salon, in reference to its backing successful candidates in Republican primaries, has called the Tea Party Express a "kingmaker (and queenmaker)." In September 2010, the Tea Party Express was one of the top five most influential organizations in the Tea Party movement, according to
The Washington Post. In addition, the group co-sponsored a debate during the
2012 Republican presidential primaries along with CNN, in
Tampa, Florida in late 2011. ==Controversies==