Crossroads ‘unlikely’ to play in ’16 primaries

Republican super-PAC American Crossroads will probably stay out of the party’s 2016 presidential primaries, the group’s chief executive tells The Washington Post.

“I think it’s unlikely we would be involved in the presidential primary,” said Steven Law, who leads both American Crossroads and its sister organization, Crossroads GPS. Law also said that the group expects to reassess its strategies in advance of the next presidential contest.

{mosads}In 2012, the Crossroads groups also ignored the presidential primary, instead targeting their fire from an early stage on President Obama. It is conceivable that more super-PAC money behind eventual 2012 nominee Mitt Romney could have shortened the nominating process and left the former Massachusetts governor in a stronger position going into the general election.

The groups, for now, have a more pressing concern than the 2016 race. They have invested more than $26 million in ad time in important Senate races for the month of October, as the Republican Party works to win the majority in the upper chamber. Much of the organization’s cash has been donated through GPS, which does not have to disclose its donors to the Federal Election Commission.

American Crossroads was founded in 2010 by Republican consultants Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie and has since become one of the heaviest hitters on the campaign finance landscape.