Tea Party Outlasts GOP, As Long Shot Senate Candidate Christine O'Donnell Beats Party Favorite Mike Castle.

Tea Party-Backed O'Donnell Upsets GOP With Senate Primary Win in Delaware

Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell, a perennial candidate with no government experience, soundly defeated veteran politician Mike Castle for the Republican Senate nomination in Delaware Tuesday -- posing a major upset to the political establishment on the last big day of primaries.

With all precincts reporting, O'Donnell beat Castle 53-47 percent.

O'Donnell's win stands as the latest sign of Tea Party strength but also the latest test of whether that movement helps or hinders the Republican Party, with an open seat and perhaps a GOP Senate majority at stake.

Party fractures on full display, Republican aides told Fox News Tuesday that O'Donnell would not be getting national fundraising support. State party leaders had warned that O'Donnell cannot compete against Democrat Chris Coons and vigorously backed Castle, a nine-term congressman and former governor.

But O'Donnell stood her ground as she closed out the race by accusing Castle of selling out to the moderate wing of the party. Hailing her win Tuesday as victory for "citizen politicians," she urged Republicans to "bury the hatchet" and work with her over the next two months to defeat Coons.

"A lot of people have already said that we can't win the general election," O'Donnell said in her victory speech, joining the crowd in a "yes we can" chant. "It is those same so-called experts who said we had no chance of winning the primary.

"It will be hard work, but we can win," she said.

Considered a long shot just weeks ago, O'Donnell's candidacy got renewed attention after conservative Joe Miller beat Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski in their state's Senate primary last month. Big-name endorsements from Sarah Palin and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint boosted her profile in the final days of the race, which snowballed into one of the nastiest intra-party battles of the year.

Republican aides told Fox News Tuesday that the National Republican Senatorial Committee will not be funding O'Donnell's general election campaign, leaving it up to Palin and the Tea Party Express to do the heavy lifting.

Castle, thanking his campaign staff for their "integrity and honesty," conceded late Tuesday.

"The voters in the Republican primary have spoken and I respect that decision," he said.

Tea Party-backed candidate Ovide Lamontagne also took the early lead in the GOP primary contest for Senate in New Hampshire.

In total, seven states and Washington, D.C., held primary contests Tuesday night.

Primaries in New York and Wisconsin emerged as must-see races, with embattled congressman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., facing his toughest challenge in years and Republican candidates in Wisconsin wrestling for a chance to take on vulnerable Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in November. Millionaire businessman Ron Johnson took the nomination in the latter race Tuesday, and recent polling suggests he's competitive against the Democratic incumbent.

Other notable races include the New Hampshire Senate contest and the D.C. mayoral race, where Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty was fending off a formidable challenge from D.C. Council chairman Vincent Gray.

But all eyes were on Delaware, where Castle had described the race as a measure of the Tea Party's strength against the GOP establishment, which was backing him.

Democrats were eager to draw lessons from O'Donnell's victory and immediately portrayed her Tuesday as too extreme for her state, as they did when conservative Sharron Angle won the GOP Senate nomination in Nevada earlier this year.

"Today the Republican Party has shown just how far right it has moved," DNC Chairman Tim Kaine said in a written statement. "While Americans in Delaware and across the country are eager for both parties to work together toward solutions that move America forward, Delaware's Tea Party Republicans have nominated a self-aggrandizing and divisive candidate who seeks to tear down the progress we've made to recover from failed Republican economic policies that took us to the brink of economic collapse."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee issued a terse statement congratulating O'Donnell for her nomination "after a hard-fought primary campaign."

While O'Donnell's campaign enjoyed a $250,000 injection from the Tea Party Express, some Tea Party groups did not support her. The state GOP and even some of O'Donnell's former staffers have hammered her for calling herself a fiscal conservative when she has had personal financial problems.

O'Donnell tried to brush off the attacks, accusing the party of resorting to "cannibalism" in an ultimately failed attempt to stave off her rise against Castle.

Party leaders no doubt were looking at midterm polls that showed Castle leading Coons in November but O'Donnell trailing. The seat could be critical for Republicans hoping to gain control of the Senate. They need to pick up 10 seats to do so.

In New York, state Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV is seeking revenge on Rangel, who defeated his father, a legendary figure in Harlem, 40 years ago. The race comes as Rangel faces a potential House trial for charges of 13 ethics violations, mostly related to his personal finances, that has caused some politicians, voters, and even President Obama to suggest it is time for Rangel to retire. Obama said Rangel should "end his career with dignity."

"When I get elected to Congress, I will actually be doing Rangel and the Democrats throughout the nation a favor because my election will probably put an end to all the ethics trials that Mr. Rangel faces and probably put an end to Republicans being able to use Congressman Rangel as a punching bag in the November election," Powell said.

Rangel has dismissed Powell as a "nice fellow."

"He used to be nice young man," he said. "I think God has really blessed him with his good looks and his dad's name, and then God gave up on him."

Rangel is getting help from former President Bill Clinton who has recorded a robocall in which he praises the congressman's record.

New Hampshire has a four-way GOP Senate primary for retiring Sen. Judd Gregg's seat. Ayotte, who is backed by both Palin and the Republican establishment, hopes to fend off a come-from-behind surge by Ovide Lamontagne, a well-known New Hampshire conservative who's courted Tea Party voters aggressively. But early returns showed Lamontagne in the lead.

The winner will oppose Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes in November.

In Maryland, the GOP gubernatorial primary also included a Tea Party activist and Palin-backed candidate: investor Brian Murphy. But he failed to pick up enough steam to topple former Gov. Robert Ehrlich.

Ehrlich won the GOP nomination by a landslide Tuesday and is eyeing a November rematch against Democratic incumbent Martin O'Malley, who beat him in 2006.