Chamber to Split With Tea Party in G.O.P. Primaries

Ahead of primaries that will most likely serve as proxy wars for the overall direction of the Republican Party, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced its plans to take sides.

The activist, anti-establishment wing of the Tea Party is still holding strong in some congressional districts around the country, but national business-lobbying organizations like the Chamber of Commerce are moving away from some of those candidates - especially ones who do not support measures to encourage trade, infrastructure construction and immigration reform.

At its headquarters in Washington on Wednesday, the Chamber outlined its plans to intervene in Republican primaries in 2014 to help more pro-business candidates, who are not always likely to align with Tea Party ideals.

At first, the Chamber saw a lot to like in the Tea Party, said the organization’s president, Thomas J. Donohue.

“When the Tea Party first came out with who they were and what they believe, they talked about things that the Chamber very much supports,” said Mr. Donohue, noting shared support for lowering taxes and cutting the federal budget while promoting trade and job creation.

“Then,” he continued, “we had a lot of people who came along who had different views and they tried to hitch their wagon to the Tea Party engine, and those are the people that wanted to not pay the federal debt and to shut down government and to take more radical approaches to try and get where we all really want to get.”

Just hours after Mr. Donohue’s speech, an exemplar of the type of Republican the Chamber wants to support took the oath of office at the Capitol. Representative Bradley Byrne took office on Wednesday after winning a special election in Alabama. He defeated Dean Young, a Tea Party-backed activist, in a Republican primary so acrimonious that Mr. Young said he would not vote for Mr. Byrne in the general election and refused even to call him to concede defeat.

Mr. Donohue also noted that his organization would be throwing its resources and efforts into midterm advertising campaigns to protect a pro-business majority in the House and to advance its position and influence in the Senate.

“The business community understands what’s at stake,” he said. “We’ll have all the resources we need to run the most effective political program of 2014.”