It seems to have been Mitch McConnell. In an NBC News/Marist poll earlier this month, the Senate minority leader was beating Matt Bevin 53–33 among Republicans who consider themselves tea partiers. A Bluegrass poll had him ahead of Bevin 58–35 among conservative voters.
So did the Tea Party lose last night? Some tea-party groups did. Looking at the Tea Party as a bottom-up phenomenon, though, it looks like tea partiers got the candidate they wanted.