Portman: No NRSC aid for McConnell or Roberts

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Thursday that Senate Republicans will play offense over the next 50 days and not worry about defending GOP seats.

Portman expressed confidence that vulnerable Republican colleagues, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.) will win without financial support form the NRSC.

NRSC Chairman Jerry Moran (Kan.) has previously said that McConnell, the GOP leader, has told the committee to focus their resources elsewhere and not on his race. 

{mosads}Portman said the Senate Republican party committee will focus over the next eight weeks on pouring resources in seven to 10 states that will decide Senate control in 2015.

“I’m hopeful we won’t have to expend NRSC resources in those red states I talked about, all states where Mitt Romney won handily and where we have good candidates, and I believe we’ll be fine,” he said at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. “I think our focus will be more on some of these states I mentioned earlier: North Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Iowa, Michigan and Colorado, New Hampshire, Alaska.” 

Portman said McConnell and Roberts appear to be cruising toward reelection.

“I don’t think any Republican seats are in great danger. I think, in fact, Pat Roberts is doing fine. I think Mitch McConnell is doing well in Kentucky,” he said.

Roberts, still bruised from a primary fight, appeared to be in danger from a surging independent candidate, but the NRSC has stepped in to right his ship, sending top strategist Chris LaCivita to the state and naming Corry Bliss the senator’s new campaign manager. 

As a resident of Cincinnati, which is part of Kentucky’s media market, Portman said he has been watching the ads aired in the contest between McConnell and Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. He feels confident his leader is pulling ahead comfortably. 

He said the Democrats’ highly touted candidate in Michelle Nunn likely wouldn’t seize the seat held by retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R).

“I think Mitch is going to be fine. I think in Georgia, we are doing well. It’s all trending in the right direction. I think it comes down to those handful of states … maybe it’s seven to 10 states where it’s going to depend on what happens in the next 50 days.”

He called the races in those battleground states “too close to call.”

An advisor to McConnell’s campaign noted that McConnell has declined to take money from the NRSC since he became GOP leader at the start of 2007.

–This report was updated at 11:50 a.m.