Guess what? Now that he's done storming the White House, Steve Bannon has his eye on the Senate, where he's apparently planning to upend the path to re-election for several Republican incumbents. CNN writes:
The target list includes Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, Alabama Sen. Luther Strange, Nevada Sen. Dean Heller and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, the source said.
Flake, a strong critic of Trump, has not backed down from the President in the wake of Trump's public attacks against him. [...]
The news comes as Bannon claimed "the Republican establishment is trying to nullify the 2016 election" in an interview that aired on "60 Minutes" Sunday night.
Nevada and Arizona just happen to be two of the better pick-up opportunities for Democrats in 2018. Politico frames Bannon's crusade as a specific vendetta against ol' Mitch himself.
The effort is being led by Steve Bannon, Trump’s bomb-throwing former chief strategist, who is launching an all-out war against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican establishment. Bannon has begun holding private meetings with insurgent challengers, vowing his support. He’s coordinating with conservative mega-donor Robert Mercer, who is prepared to pour millions of dollars into attacks on GOP incumbents. Bannon has also installed a confidant at an outside group that is expected to target Republican lawmakers and push the Trump agenda. [...]
“The issue is: Do you invest your time and energy in attacking people who are carrying this president’s water in Congress to the benefit of people who are trying to impeach him? That seems like an incredibly short-sighted strategy,” said Josh Holmes, a former McConnell chief of staff.
Sounds like good ol’ establishment logic, don't it? Just a guess that Bannon isn't going to take the bait on that one. He'd rather just burn it all down.
Republicans currently control the Senate with 52 seats. As slim as that majority sounds, the path to Democrats regaining control in 2018 has always been the longest of long shots since they will be defending some 25 seats to the Republicans’ eight or so. Some races could also be rocked by potential GOP retirements.
Regardless, Bannon's vendetta could easily cost Republicans millions to simply to defend their incumbents. And beyond that, 2012 showcased several examples where tea party challengers defeated GOP incumbents only to bomb when it came to the general election (think Richard Mourdock who took out Indiana's six-term Sen. Richard Lugar only to surrender the seat to then-Rep. Joe Donnelly in the general).
Fingers crossed!