--- title: Experts Say Tea Party Power Waning in 2014 Midterm Elections description: The movement is struggling as primary races slip away canonical: https://time.com/41581/tea-party-midterm-elections-2014/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-28T14:16:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:01:14.974Z article:section: Politics og:title: Experts Say Tea Party Power Waning in 2014 Midterm Elections og:description: The movement is struggling as primary races slip away og:url: https://time.com/41581/tea-party-midterm-elections-2014/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72121e5aaa82d00f/698687c9e8524b4fde602134/ap430177907911.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3412 og:image:height: 1919 og:image:alt: Florida Americans For Prosperity Rally og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Experts Say Tea Party Power Waning in 2014 Midterm Elections twitter:description: The movement is struggling as primary races slip away twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72121e5aaa82d00f/698687c9e8524b4fde602134/ap430177907911.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Tea Party is Running Out of Steam > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Mar 28, 2014 2:16 PM UTC  Participants hold up signs during an Americans For Prosperity "Tallahassee Days Rally" March 3, 2014 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Participants hold up signs during an Americans For Prosperity "Tallahassee Days Rally" March 3, 2014 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. AP Photo/Phil Sears  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Mar 28, 2014 2:16 PM UTC The Tea Party is wanting for scalps this year. In past two cycles, the insurgent group claimed the Senate seats of Republicans Bob Bennett of Utah and Dick Lugar of Indiana. But this year, Texas Sen. John Cornyn sailed through his Tea Party primary challenge and it’s not looking likely that the movement will take down any of its top targets: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Pat Roberts of Kansas, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. There’s still a crew of Tea Party challengers in open-seat races, but the “Tea Party groups aren’t as united as they once were,” says Jennifer Duffy, who tracks the Senate for _Cook Political Report_, which follows congressional races. “They haven’t united behind candidates in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, for example.” It’s looking increasing likely that Republican incumbents or establishment candidates will prevail this year. Could this be the beginning of the end of the Tea Party? Not quite. The Tea Party had a change in strategy this cycle after establishment Republicans blamed activists for Senate losses in 2010 and 2012 that cost the GOP the majority. This year, Tea Party leaders have looked to red states for their main targets in primaries—states where it’s harder for the insurgents to win because the incumbents are inherently more conservative than those in swing states. Plus, “the national Republicans have been more aggressive in pushing back,” Duffy says. And, “as polling has been indicating, the Tea Party just isn’t as popular as it was.” Compounding that, the issues have gotten away from the movement. Budgets and deficits are no longer as prominent in the headlines. “There are Tea Party challenges, but they have less traction and momentum,” says Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute. “One reason is the way the debt limit-shutdown issues played out. It’s not easy to undermine ‘establishment’ candidates who were on the “wrong” side.” Not to mention, Ornstein says, that Obamacare has become “the great unifier.” As Democratic pollster [Celinda Lake noted earlier this week](http://time.com/37171/2014-midterm-elections-republicans-democrats-polls/), with every GOP candidate standing in opposition to the health care reform law, the biggest issue of the midterm elections so far this year, the establishment candidates are winning. There’s little right ground left for Tea Party candidates to go. Of course, election filing deadlines haven’t past in half the states and Tea Party challengers are often late filers, so much could still change. But, Larry Sabato, head of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, argues that the Tea Party is simply growing up. “There are fewer serious Tea Party threats to Senate and House incumbents. …The learning curve is not flat, even for ideologues,” he says. “They were convinced they’d win the White House in 2012\. They expected to sweep key Senate seats too. We know what happened. Some compromise, or maybe tolerance, has crept into parts of the Tea Party movement. 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