Stephen Bannon is reportedly searching for pro-Trump challengers to take on Senate GOP incumbents

Stephen Bannon.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Stephen Bannon may be physically out of the White House, but he's not going to stop fighting establishment Republicans he sees as a threat to President Trump, several people with ties to Bannon told Politico.

Trump's former chief strategist, Bannon is leading a team of the president's allies who want to recruit pro-Trump candidates to face off against sitting Republican senators in 2018 primaries, Politico reports. He's already had meetings with some challengers, including Danny Tarkanian, an attorney who is challenging Sen. Dean Heller in Nevada; one person with knowledge of their conversation said Bannon told Tarkanian he has his full support. Heller didn't endorse Trump during his presidential campaign, and was slow to back the GOP effort to repeal ObamaCare. A source close to Bannon tells CNN that other incumbents on Bannon's hit list include Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), and Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.).

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.