LEBANON – The Club for Growth PAC Wednesday endorsed Republican congressional candidate Kyle McCarter over incumbent John Shimkus. McCarter said in a press release that The Club for Growth is the gold standard of conservative principles, and their endorsement demonstrates that his message of fiscal restraint, core values and free market economics is reaching true conservatives. McCarter, who is currently an Illinois State Senator, is seeking the party nomination in the state’s 15th Congressional District, which comprises much of the state’s southeastern quadrant from Danville in the north, Metropolis in the south, and going west to Madison County in the Metro East. In endorsing McCarter, The Club for Growth criticized Shimkus for his votes to increase the nation’s debt ceiling, supporting the recent Obama spending package, raising his own pay, and reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank. The Club noted that Shimkus is the epitome of what’s wrong with Congress adding that Shimkus was first elected nearly 20 years ago – eight years longer than the term limits pledge he made in 1996. Shimkus earned an annual Club for Growth rating of only 34 percent in 2014. In contrast, McCarter is term limiting himself in the Senate and committing to term limits in Congress.