From Politico: https://www.politicopro.com/campaigns/story/2016/07/mccarthy-takes-sides-in-upcoming-gop-primaries-124205

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has started quietly taking sides in Republican primaries, helping to raise money for candidates in open, safely Republican districts who are more likely to align with House leadership if they make it to Congress.

McCarthy headlined a fundraiser last week at the Capitol Hill Club for Drew Ferguson, a former small-town mayor who’s locked in a tight primary runoff for retiring GOP Rep. Lynn Westmoreland‘s seat in Georgia. McCarthy hosted another fundraiser at a Capitol Hill townhouse last month for Neal Dunn, who’s facing two more conservative candidates in the primary for a North Florida seat.

Taken together, the fundraisers indicate that McCarthy is working to prevent the restive members who ousted Speaker John Boehner from gaining more influence within the House GOP in the next Congress. Ferguson and Dunn are both facing candidates backed by the House Freedom Caucus and the Club for Growth — and they’re not happy about McCarthy getting involved.

“I would think the GOP leadership would want to embrace diversity and be the first party to ever elect an Indian-American woman,” Matt Joiner, the campaign manager for Dunn primary opponent Mary Thomas, said in a statement. “Regardless, our campaign is going well as voters are looking for conservative change, not a liberal lobbyist who supported expanding Obamacare.”

“It’s disappointing but not surprising that D.C. elites will raise as much money as possible to put another D.C. yes-man in Washington,” added Jacqueline Byrd, a spokeswoman for state Sen. Mike Crane, who’s facing Ferguson in a July 26 primary runoff.

McCarthy did not respond to requests for comment, while the Dunn and Ferguson campaigns dismissed their rivals’ complaints.

“I’m sure our opponents will try to say that he’s the establishment candidate, but it’s the opposite,” said Sarah Bascom, a Dunn campaign spokeswoman. “What that type of support implies is that they know he’s the candidate that can win.”

Certainly, House leadership has gotten involved in other contested GOP primaries this year. Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, for instance, took heat this spring when he wrote a letter encouraging other members to give to Don Bacon, one of two Republicans vying to face Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford of Nebraska. (Stivers is a vice chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which doesn’t take sides in primaries without a GOP incumbent.)

McCarthy’s support is a little different, though. While Bacon — who won his primary in May — was seen by GOP leaders as the party’s best hope to knock off a sitting Democratic incumbent, Ferguson and Dunn are running in safe seats that will elect a Republican every two years almost no matter what.

Candidates backed by the members of the Freedom Caucus have won primaries in three safely Republican open seats already this year, including Boehner’s old district. With some battleground-district moderates likely to lose this fall, that could up the Freedom Caucus’ influence even more in the next Congress.

McCarthy’s leadership PAC also donated earlier this year to James Comer, who was facing two candidates who’d pledged to join the Freedom Caucus in the race for retiring Rep. Ed Whitfield’s safely Republican seat in Kentucky.