How the right’s challenge to Chairman Upton fizzled

Rep. Fred Upton’s conservative conversion was the key to his easy victory in his tea party primary challenge.

Once a prime target of the right, the powerful House Commerce Committee chairman is now on his way to the November general election after outspending his Republican opponent, former state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, by a nearly 20-to-1 margin. Heading into the August 7 primary, Michigan pollsters and political observers had Upton up by as much as 30 points. And that’s pretty much where he ended up on election night. With 99.7 percent of the precincts counted, Chairman Upton had 66.6 percent of the vote to Hoogendyk’s 33.4 percent. Frequently criticized for being too moderate during his 26-year House career, Chairman Upton courted pivotal business groups under his powerful panel’s jurisdiction this election cycle to amass a $2 million-plus campaign war chest. And by courting conservatives back in his southwestern Michigan district, Chairman Upton was able to avoid an all-out revolt from the right wing of his party. Perhaps most important, Hoogendyk never got the air support he needed from the Club for Growth. After an initial spate of anti-Upton television ads, the anti-tax group didn’t extend its buy beyond the January run.