Republicans are bristling at threats from President-elect Donald Trump and his surrogates to back primary challenges if they cross him on policies or Cabinet nominees.
The repeated warnings of retribution from Trump and MAGA-world before he’s even taken office have GOP lawmakers fearing it could undermine ambitious plans to enact his agenda and capitalize on a Republican trifecta.
“Republicans are really good at eating their young and cannibalizing ourselves. And here’s yet another example,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told the Washington Examiner. “Threatening to primary people who don’t think for themselves, it always backfires.”
Lummis, motioning to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) as the two shared an elevator in the Capitol, added, “It’s stupid.”
Murkowski, a centrist, fended off a Trump-backed challenger in 2022 and was reelected in 2010 as a write-in candidate after losing her primary. She echoed her more conservative colleague, Lummis.
“It is stupid,” Murkowski nodded in agreement.
“It never works for us, and I say that as one who doesn’t think like her,” Lummis continued. “We ought to be smart about who our adversaries are, and our adversaries don’t come from within.”
Primary concerns are a normal aspect of politics, particularly in the age of Trump. But primary threats from the incoming president and his supporters have intensified as senators weigh confirming nominees and House Republicans grappled last week with a Trump-induced revolt over a bipartisan government funding agreement.
If Republican senators are “unreasonable” in opposing his nominees, “I would say they probably would be primaried,” Trump told reporters this month.
On Truth Social, he offered a blunter message to the House Republicans who voted for a bipartisan spending agreement to avert a shutdown.
“Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried,” Trump said.
He took direct aim at Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) in a subsequent post, who was one of 38 House Republicans to rebuff a separate funding bill backed by Trump.
“I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary,” Trump wrote. “He won’t have a chance!”
The campaign arm of Senate Republicans has historically backed incumbents, and party leaders say they’re committed to continuing that tradition.
“We got to make sure that our team is united,” incoming Senate GOP Leader John Thune (R-SD) told the Washington Examiner. “We have a just newly gained majority, which we want to maintain. And obviously, that means we got to keep Republicans who are running for reelection in office. We’ll do everything we can to support our team and make sure those folks are well positioned to win their campaigns.”
The incoming chair of the campaign arm for Senate Republicans, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), is already in contact with Trump, according to a source familiar with the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s thinking. Trump also met with Senate Republicans at the NRSC before the November elections as a show of unity.
“Everyone’s on the same page,” the source said. “We want to get four years of a Republican majority so that President Trump can get as much done as possible, and everybody’s working together to try and make that a reality.”
‘Any member should be prepared to be primaried’
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump confidant whom Democrats dubbed “President Musk,” has used his “X” platform to lead an online army of MAGA enthusiasts chomping at the bit to oust Republicans who stand in Trump’s way. The billionaire is vowing to fund primary challengers of GOP lawmakers who cross Trump’s nominees.
“How else?” Musk recently tweeted. “There is no other way.”
Maybe lawmakers don’t deserve to be ousted by someone in their own party for disagreeing with Trump, some Republicans say. But that line is often followed by another seeking to state the obvious: primaries are a fact of politics, and if you can’t handle the heat, then get out of the kitchen.
“Any member should be prepared to be primaried in every circumstance,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said. “It’s up to the member to cast the votes that their conscience and their constituents want them to cast. And if there’s a conflict between those two things, then they have to decide which is more important.”
Still, even the most ardent of Trump supporters on Capitol Hill don’t appreciate being told to “do this — or else.”
“I think every senator should vote their conscience,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a close Trump ally. “We can’t let the internet tell us what to do up here.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), up for reelection in 2026, is already facing a primary challenge from Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, a former congressman.
Trump endorsed Cassidy in his 2020 reelection. But then Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. More recently, Cassidy has expressed reservations about some Trump nominees, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health and human services secretary.
Cassidy downplayed his primary opponent by citing a Biblical scripture, Matthew 6:34.
“That’s life. Part of being in politics,” Cassidy said. “There’s a scripture that keeps going through my mind: Let the day’s own troubles be sufficient for the day. Jesus says, ‘Can you add one bit of time to your life by constant worrying?’ No, you can’t. So, I try not to worry. I want to live a long time.”
Fleming, in an interview with the Washington Examiner, said challengers like him are bound to crop up “organically.” The question is whether Trump will make an endorsement and if Musk will follow through with financial backing.
“The fact that I’ve already announced tells you that I’m already going to work to earn that, and I think that President Trump is more likely to look upon that even more favorably,” Fleming said.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a blue-state centrist Republican who also voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment, ran unopposed in her last two primaries in 2014 and 2020. She’s seeking reelection in 2026 to a sixth consecutive term.
“Many of us who are in the middle are used to having tough campaigns,” Collins told the Washington Examiner. “[Trump] has the right to recruit whomever he wishes to run.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is up for reelection in battleground North Carolina, a key seat that is buoying Democrats’ hopes for clawing back the Senate. Trump endorsed Tillis in 2020 and “would expect he’ll endorse me again.” Despite the focus on him during the confirmation process, Tillis noted he backed all of Trump’s first-term nominees.
“I don’t feel any unique pressure,” Tillis told the Washington Examiner. “People have asked me for years what keeps me up at night. I say caffeine.”
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), also up for reelection in 2026, has been the subject of perhaps the most personal and fierce online attacks from conservatives over her hesitation with defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth is at the center of a series of misconduct allegations, including sexual abuse. Ernst is a survivor of rape and domestic violence.
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Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) revealed he’s been the subject of threats beyond that of primary challenges to support Trump’s nominees. But he assailed the targeting of Ernst as “extremely inappropriate” and “misinformed.”
“You always got somebody that’s kind of off on the wacko side,” Rounds said. “But the [threats] in particular that I think have been very damaging were the attacks on Joni Ernst because she has been a solid player from day one.”
Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
