The 2016 fight for the Senate has begun.
The political action committee of the Club for Growth, the influential political organization that spends money on conservative candidates across the country, on Wednesday announced the endorsement of six Republican senators who are expected to run for re-election in two years.
The candidates, all Republicans elected to Congress in 2010, are: Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
A spokesman said the organization will start bundling contributions for these candidates.
Several of these candidates — most notably, Paul and Rubio — could run for president in 2016. If that happens, the organization will stop fundraising for them, a spokesman said.
“Should any of these candidates for Senate announce a campaign for President, the Club’s PAC will cease to actively bundle for their Senate campaign committees,” the group said. “The PAC’s endorsement of their Senate reelection campaigns is not an endorsement of a presidential candidacy. The Club’s PAC will go through a separate endorsement process that considers all presidential candidates, once that field of candidates becomes clear during the course of 2015.”