Rep. Walter B. Jones says his independent voice is the reason he won the Republican primary in North Carolina on Tuesday even though he was outspent 10-1.
"My independence and willing to vote my conscience, I want to believe, helped me a great deal," Jones told J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV. "$1.3 to $1.4 million dollars is what they have spent . . . and we spent about $125,000."
Jones also thinks that voters in the Tar Heel State "got sick and tired" of the negative ads against him, adding Wednesday that they were "so unfair."
Jones defeated Taylor Griffith, who is a Washington lobbyist and former official in the George W. Bush administration.
The North Carolina Republican says he was targeted because he doesn't agree with "the more liberal element of the Republican Party."
"Those of us who have a conservative view, whether it be illegal immigration or conservative view on social issues . . . they have this fight set on us ever since . . . I did not vote for John Boehner to be speaker of the House," Jones explained.
"I don't lock-step with the leadership — whether it be on the immigration issues or this absolute waste of money in Afghanistan," he added.
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Jones says he hopes "there's going to be movement within the Republican Party to change the leadership of the House," adding that he has a couple of people in mind that he thinks "could take us in a different direction."
The current Republican leadership does "not represent what I consider the strength of the party," Jones said.
"The strength of the party are conservative-libertarian-thinking people," he added.
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