NRCC upgrades 11 ‘Young Guns’ candidates

House Republicans’ campaign arm on Thursday will upgrade 11 candidates to the next level of its “Young Guns” training program, aides told The Hill.

{mosads}The so-called Contender level is the second level of the program, which requires candidates to meet certain benchmarks to receive fundraising and other help from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

Among the 11 new Contender candidates are: Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, who’s challenging vulnerable Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.); Rebecca Negron, one of a handful of Republicans vying to replace Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.), a Senate candidate; and Michael Roberson and Danny Tarkanian, who are both running for the seat being vacated by Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), another Senate hopeful. 

“These 11 candidates have proven themselves to be exemplary leaders in their communities and they are exactly the kind of leaders we need in Washington,” NRCC Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said in a statement.  

“I am confident these candidates will continue to run strong campaigns as they spread the message and values of the Republican party across the country.”

The Young Guns program — founded several cycles ago by Reps. Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and former Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.) — helped elect 45 new GOP members to Congress in 2014.

The full list of Contenders is here:

Scott Jones (CA-07)
Katcho Achadjian (CA-24)
Justin Fareed (CA-24)
Rebecca Negron (FL-18)
Steward Mills (MN-08)
Michael Roberson (NV-03)
Danny Tarkanian (NV-03)
Jack Martins (NY-03)
John Faso (NY-19)
Andrew Heaney (NY-19)
Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-08)