Conservatives Threatening GOP Primary Fights for Senate

Conservatives are threatening to spark Republican primary fights for the Senate in key red states, The Hill is reporting.

In 2020, Republicans are defending 22 seats in mostly deep-red states. But tough GOP primary fights could spark a repeat of previous cycles when conservatives defeated more mainstream Republicans, but lost to Democrats in November, according to The Hill.

Conservative Roy Moore is flirting with a Senate bid in Alabama and Kris Kobach is considering one in Kansas. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is considered vulnerable to a primary challenge.

“There are still Republicans ... who are upset that we gave away Senate seats in Nevada, Missouri and Indiana that were right there for the taking,” said Doug Heye, a former Republican National Committee spokesman. “So I think folks here (in Washington) are very mindful of that.”

A second bid for the Senate by Moore would not sit well with national Republicans, according to The Hill. Many see him as a guarantee that Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, would be re-elected.

Regarding Moore, President Donald Trump tweeted: "Republicans cannot allow themselves to again lose the Senate seat in the great state of Alabama."

And some Republicans have expressed concerns about Kobach in Kansas, who lost his 2018 gubernatorial bid to Democrat Laura Kelly.

“He found a way to lose a statewide election” in Kansas, a GOP strategist told The Hill.

And the website noted some Republican groups aren’t ruling out trying to fend off candidates viewed as unelectable in November, including Moore and Kobach.

• Roy Moore Weighs Alabama Senate Re-run Despite GOP Opposition
• Report: Roy Moore Leads Polling for Ala. GOP Senate Bid