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With one week to go before the midterm election, tea partiers are focused less on ideological purity than power. Many are throwing their resources behind the Republican candidates they opposed in primaries in an effort to help the GOP seize control of the Senate and hold on to governors' mansions.

In North Carolina, the Tea Party Patriots are mobilizing volunteers to help elect Thom Tillis to the Senate, after they heavily backed one of his opponents in the primary.

Tillis wasnt our second or maybe even third choice in North Carolina, said Kevin Broughton, communications director for the super PAC Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund. There is a chance Thom Tillis wont care about tea party folks when he gets into office, but there is a certainty that Kay Hagan wont give a hoot."

We cant let the perfect be the enemy of the good with so much at stake.

In Kansas, Tea Party Express, which has spent thousands of dollars helping conservative candidates, recently announced its support for Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, who is locked ina tight battlewith independent Greg Orman. The Tea Party Express had backed Milton Wolf in the primary, but Roberts was able to hold onto his seat with less than 50 percent of the vote.

"These folks have fire in the belly, you know," Roberts said. "If you are going to lead the posse, and you look back, you'd better have the tea party with you."

In Georgia, the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund threw its support behind Georgia Senate candidate David Perdue, whom they had opposed in the primary. Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn are in a dead heat -- and the Georgia seat could prove decisive in regard to which party controls the Senate.

Were asking all conservatives in Georgia not just to vote for David Perdue, but to knock on doors for him, Tea Party Patriots Chair Jenny Beth Martin said in a statement. Make phone calls. Drive a friend to the polls. These midterm elections are so critical to the future of the Republic, and its time for Georgians to answer the call.

The Republicans who once feared the party's right-wingers are glad to have their help.Many of the closest races for the Senate will be decided by turnout, andthe tea party has something impossible to buy through TV ads and mailers: motivated voters. A Gallup poll released last week found tea party-aligned Republicans -- who comprise about 18 percent of the GOP population -- described themselves as extremely or very motivated to vote by much larger margins than other Republicans.

The establishment has the big money but weve got the ground troops, and its always going to be that way, Diana Bannister, a Republican communication strategies, said. The activists and the tea party are still there and they are still working their tails off in their local races, in the Senate races and the governor races.

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Midterm 2014: Tea Party Groups Focus On Senate And Governor Races