NORTH CONWAY, N.H. — The anti-establishment candidate who was supposed to end Republicans’ chances of flipping a New Hampshire Senate seat is still hanging on, thanks to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s cash.

Don Bolduc narrowly clinched the state’s late-primary nomination last month, doing so while raising little money, declaring that the 2020 election was stolen, floating controversial proposals to privatize Medicare and Social Security and withstanding attacks by the GOP establishment.

And while he has since reversed his position on election fraud and softened his rhetoric on abortion, Bolduc is sticking to his guns on McConnell. If Republicans capture a majority in the 50-50 Senate, Bolduc said he is still a no on supporting the Kentucky Republican as leader. That’s a question that has dogged other GOP candidates this cycle; in the primaries, they sought Donald Trump’s support, but during the general election, they’ve needed money from McConnell’s super PAC and have shied away from the topic.

“I have said no to that question, and I’m not backing off,” Bolduc said in an interview with POLITICO, when asked whether he would now agree to support McConnell as leader.

Despite his feelings about the minority leader, Bolduc remains willing to take McConnell’s money. Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC affiliated with the Republican leader, is on track to spend $23 million on this year’s New Hampshire race. That’s a critical boost to Bolduc, who as the outsider candidate has failed to raise significant funds on his own, spending just $500,000 so far on television advertisements.

“I’m very appreciative of Senator McConnell’s support, but that’s his job,” Bolduc said. “So to me, that’s not anything that we should all be marveled about. We should expect his support and he should do everything within his power to help us win.”

Bolduc said he had not thought about who he would like to see as leader instead. When pressed, he said he had “people in mind, but I’m keeping it to myself.”

Bolduc’s continued resistance toward McConnell illustrates the enduring divide within a Republican Party that has largely aligned itself with Trump, but remains reliant on traditional establishment funding sources, chiefly the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund. It also foreshadows the difficulty Senate Republicans could face ironing out their agenda, should they recapture a majority.

While the GOP entered the midterm election cycle riding a wave of anti-Biden momentum, Biden’s approval ratings remain low. But the GOP has nonetheless found itself in harder-than-expected races in states like New Hampshire, with incumbent Democratic senators polling ahead of the president. The GOP now appears poised to secure at best a minuscule majority, rather than usher in a massive red wave and comfortable margins in the chamber.

But Bolduc’s position on leadership in Washington is unlikely to hurt him with voters, as McConnell remains unpopular in both parties. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, whom Bolduc is challenging this fall, has sought to tie Bolduc to McConnell, noting that the leader has floated a national abortion ban and suggested Bolduc would support it.

Bolduc, who ran as a “pro-life” candidate in the primary and said he wouldn’t vote otherwise, in the general election has emphasized that he would not support a federal abortion ban and believes the law should be set at the state level.

It’s a “really, really close race,” Hassan said in an interview. “New Hampshire is always close.”

Even though public polling shows Bolduc roughly 7 points behind Hassan, Senate Leadership Fund — the top spender in the race — has chosen to keep its $23 million investment in place. It’s a sign that the group, which tends to make its spending decisions based on data, sees a GOP win here as possible in the current economic and political environment. The super PAC has kept its funds in New Hampshire even as they’ve pulled money from Arizona, another top battleground where other Republican groups have rushed in to fill SLF’s gap.

“I know what the Republicans think about this race because of the amount of money Mitch McConnell is spending on this seat,” Hassan said.

Sen. Maggie Hassan during a campaign stop, Oct. 11, 2022, in Rochester, N.H.