Tea party support helped elect Republicans nationally last week, but local members of both groups aren’t sure whether they now want to build bridges or burn them.
The GOP and the tea party share some principles — particularly for smaller government, lower taxes and free markets.
But the Hamilton County Republican Party chairwoman says the tea party is a clique of conservatives not willing to respect party procedures.
“They’ve become exclusive and very elitist. Some of them are even cultish,” Chairwoman Delores Vinson said. “About what they are good for is siphoning off votes from the Republicans.”
And Chattanooga Tea Party President Mark West says the local GOP has devolved into an old power structure not open to new ideas, one that doesn’t understand the grass-roots effort of the common people.