The Hill News

The Senate's top Republican said on Tuesday that he would support Christine O'Donnell for Senate in Delaware if she snags the party's nomination.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would support the eventual winner of a primary Tuesday between O'Donnell and Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.).

"The voters of Delaware are going to decide this very day as we are speaking who they want to represent them in the Senate," McConnell said during an appearance on MSNBC. "I'm going to support the nominee."

Castle is facing a last-minute conservative surge from O'Donnell, the Tea Party candidate who's been backed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and his Senate Conservatives Fund.

O'Donnell's candidacy is, in some ways, reminiscent of other conservative insurgencies â€" Sharron Angle in Nevada, Mike Lee in Utah, Joe Miller in Alaska â€" in Republican Senate primaries across the country this cycl! e. In those races, incumbent senators or more establishment candidates were knocked off by Tea Party-fueled conservatives in primaries.

McConnell has made clear that he welcomes members of all ideological stripes to the Senate GOP conference, though the new crop of would-be conservative senators is seen as potentially less loyal to him as GOP leader.

"I'm going to support the Republican nominee for the Senate anywhere in America," he said.

That support extends to Alaska, McConnell said, where he said he supported Miller rather than Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), the member of the Senate GOP leadership team to lose in that state's primary.

"She knows I'm supporting Joe Miller," McConnell said. "We expect him to be the next senator from Alaska."