WASHINGTON - The Young Guns, the Kevin McCarthy-led group of congressional Republicans who are supporting selected House incumbents and challengers around the country, is considering among its options the bold step of taking sides in upcoming GOP primaries, McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) said in an interview with PolitickerCA.com today.

“We haven’t gotten engaged in primaries,” he said. “If the primaries are late and there is an opportunity, maybe there is one or two that we do.”

McCarthy, pointing to the GOP’s failure in special elections earlier on in the cycle, said the organization had missed an opportunity to “solidify” the party’s standing for the general election.

“That’s the one thing I found in these special elections that we should have done, been more helpful,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy, who this cycle assumed the 22nd District seat of longtime Rep. Bill Thomas, is widely seen as something of a fast-riser in the party’s ranks. He has been named to the Republican National Convention’s platform committee and earlier this year became the co-founder of the Young Guns, which now boasts 58 members.

McCarthy, along with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), designed the Young Guns to function as a support network for energetic Republican candidates operating in a challenging environment.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, with which the Young Guns is affiliated, has largely taken the tack of remaining neutral in party primaries. But in some instances this cycle House members have taken the lead in backing primary candidates.

There are several competitive Republican primaries remaining nationwide, including Florida’s 16th Congressional District and New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, though McCarthy indicated he was less inclined to engage in the latter contest because it featured two strong Republican candidates.

McCarthy cautioned that endorsing candidates would occur only if there was a consensus among others in the group. “I’m not going to drive something there’s not a consensus on,” he said.

The organization will be coming together later on this month to decide on its next steps, including which new candidates to add to its support network. In addition to the 14 candidates the organization has said publicly it is supporting, McCarthy said Louisiana 6th Congressional District candidate Bill Cassidy, Ohio 6th Congressional District candidate Steve Austria, Alabama 2nd Congressional District candidate Jay Love, and Connecticut 5th Congressional District candidate David Cappiello would be discussed as possible future beneficiaries.

McCarthy also said in the interview that the Young Guns had so far raised over $1 million from House members to distribute to its chosen candidates.

“That’s a million dollars prior they didn’t have. That’s a million dollars going to challengers against incumbent Democrats,” McCarthy said as he dug into a lunch of egg whites and fruit at the Capitol Hill Club.

McCarthy also said there was a strong anti-incumbent sentiment this cycle, and he argued that Democrat and Republican officeholders are endangered.

“You’ve got to look at people who have gotten anywhere from 57 to 62 percent of the vote who have been there for more than five terms on either side of the aisle, that hasn’t been paying attention and think everything is good, the staff that got ‘em here is gone, that moved to DC and lost touch,” he said.

“In September they realize, ‘Holy moly, we’ve got to run a race.’”