WY-Sen: Think Republicans can't possibly get any worse when it comes to whom they send to the Senate? Erik Prince is reportedly considering whether to test that proposition according to a recent New York Times article where he "appears increasingly likely" to primary GOP Sen. John Barrasso with the support of former Trump strategist Steve Bannon. Prince is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and previously served as an informal Trump advisor during the transition phase, giving him strong ties to the administration. However, Prince is best known as the founder of mercenary company Blackwater, which became the focus of much outrage over its role in carrying out the Iraq War under the George W. Bush administration.
Prince has pushed hard for the government to replace its soldiers with mercenaries, which of course would benefit people like himself financially and increase their power over the conduct of wars in places like Afghanistan. Blackwater mercenaries were infamously responsible for a 2007 massacre in Baghdad where they killed 14 Iraqi civilians, resulting in long prison sentences for four Blackwater personnel. Those war crimes led to Blackwater being kicked out of Iraq and deemed a mercenary force by the U.N. (Blackwater refers to themselves by the euphemism of "contractors"), but the company had already made billions off of its dealings with the federal government.
While Prince's odiousness may be an asset with the party's Bannon-aligned faction of the GOP, his ties to Wyoming are tenuous, to say the least. Prince has lived in Michigan in recent years, but reportedly acknowledged the difficulties of facing an incumbent Democratic senator in that swingy state. He had an address in Wyoming in around the turn of the 21st Century, but he would have to move to Wyoming almost immediately prior to launching any campaign.
Prince isn't the only notorious Republican considering a Senate campaign in Wyoming. Billionaire mega-donor Foster Friess told The Washington Post via email that he is considering a campaign, a very unusual development for a 77-year-old who has wielded more clout behind the scenes. Friess almost single-handedly kept alive Rick Santorum's 2012 campaign for the GOP presidential nomination after bankrolling his super PAC to the tune of millions. However, he generated a firestorm over birth control during that campaign when he stated "Back in my days, they used Bayer Aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly."
Like Prince, Friess also has ties to Trump, while the Post reports that Bannon and fellow billionaire mega-donors Robert Mercer and Rebekah Mercer are keen on Friess' candidacy, which could give him a substantial boost if he runs. Neither Prince nor Friess cuts the profile of a typical insurgent challenger, but in the age of Trump and GOP dissatisfaction with their congressional leadership, no incumbent should expect to rest easy against foes who could self-fund their campaigns.
Barrasso has compiled an orthodox conservative voting record, but that may not be enough for GOP primary voters in an era where Republicans have given into reactionary white identity politics. Daily Kos Elections' David Nir aptly described this dynamic during the 2009 Tea Party surge, and it holds even truer today:
It’s important to remember that to remain a member in good standing of the conservative movement, it isn’t enough just to vote a certain way. You have to evidence a very particular tribal belonging—you need to hate the right people, be ignorant of the right facts, be fearful of the right bogeymen, and be arrogant about the whole enterprise. If you somehow fail this tribal litmus test, it doesn’t matter how right-wing you are—that’s how, for example, a wildly conservative guy like former Rep. Chris Cannon could lose a primary to another wildly conservative maniac.