GOP leaders fret as Trump sits out the party’s nastiest primary battles — with Senate control on the line

By Manu Raju, Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Top Senate Republicans are ratcheting up pressure on President Donald Trump to pick a side in the party’s nastiest primary battles before it’s too late, with anxiety spiking as the midterm cycle threatens to turn sour for the GOP.

GOP leaders are making a last-ditch push for Trump — who has relished his status as kingmaker for nearly a decade — to get off the sidelines and save potentially hundreds of millions of dollars set to be spent on a mission to save Sen. John Cornyn in Texas and to help clear the field in Georgia, according to a half-dozen Republican lawmakers and campaign operatives. The fear: The money will drain critical resources that could be spent elsewhere as Democrats now see a narrow but clear path to net the four seats they need to win the majority.

The rising concerns come as Republicans stare down mounting midterm problems across their Senate map, with the party now forced to defend traditionally red turf in states like Alaska and even Iowa. Meanwhile, the party has watched Trump pick sides in other contested primaries that have caused internal tensions, like in Louisiana, where he endorsed against the Senate GOP incumbent over a personal grudge.

The GOP’s primary problem is felt most acutely in Texas, where Cornyn is just over a month out from a three-way primary race that seems destined to head to a costly two-month-long runoff. And if he loses, senior Republicans fear it could cost at least $200 million to defend the seat in Texas if state Attorney General Ken Paxton emerges as the party’s nominee, according to multiple GOP sources.

“It’s a very difficult race, and one that’s going to be a lot more expensive to hold the seat,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN about the impact of Trump remaining neutral. Asked why Trump is ignoring the pleas, Thune said: “I’m probably not the right person to answer that question.”

But there’s also growing concern over Georgia, where Republicans at all levels have privately urged Trump to defuse a three-way battle to take on Jon Ossoff, the lone Senate Democrat running in a state Trump won in 2024. Even in Kentucky, several GOP candidates are urging the president to weigh in on a race they fear could, with the wrong candidate, elect a second statewide Democrat.

The fight over a Trump endorsement for marquee races has gotten so intense that one House Republican running to become Tennessee’s next governor threatened to prolong last week’s government shutdown to receive a personal assurance that the president would not publicly back his GOP opponent.

The concerted push to unsnarl the GOP’s toughest primaries has intensified since this month’s Texas special election scare, and as the third contender in the Senate GOP race, Rep. Wesley Hunt, has tried to climb into the two-person runoff there.

The warnings have been a topic in multiple meetings with top Republicans in Washington since then, including one in which the Senate GOP’s campaign chief, Sen. Tim Scott, laid out national headwinds across the map, according to an attendee. He also presented internal polling to stress that Cornyn needed to win the primary in Texas or risk costing the party gobs of cash.

Scott, Thune and other top senators have repeatedly warned the president, both publicly and privately, about what could happen if he stays out, multiple sources told CNN.

Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Senate Republican, added that Trump is “considering making a decision” after the fierce lobbying push from the Senate GOP top brass.

“The issue of a runoff is more money that’s spent there is money that’s not spent in other places, which is why I’m supporting Sen. Cornyn and plan to see him win on the first ballot,” Barrasso told CNN.

Cornyn himself said he approached Trump again last week about an endorsement, after that Democratic upset in a deep-red slice of Texas that sent shockwaves through Washington.

In an interview with CNN, Cornyn warned that Democrats could win the seat if the wrong Republican — namely, his chief opponent, Paxton — makes it to the general election.

“I think if Republicans nominate the attorney general, I think they absolutely do,” Cornyn said when asked whether Democrats had a chance of flipping the seat. “At minimum … we’d have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to salvage that seat that could be used in places like Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire and elsewhere.”

In response to Cornyn’s remarks, Paxton adviser Nick Maddux told CNN that the Texas attorney general won statewide by 10 points in 2022 despite heavy spending against him “and the same thing is going to happen in 2026 because Republican voters are fired up to go to the polls and support him.”

“We must be laser-focused on turning out low-propensity, Trump-supporting America First voters. John Cornyn is the worst possible choice on that front,” Maddux said, arguing that “$50+ million’s been lit on fire to help” Cornyn instead of going to battleground races.

Trump has helped avoid Republican infighting in other key races this cycle. That includes the president’s move in recent days to formally back former Sen. John E. Sununu in his comeback bid in New Hampshire over his own former ambassador to New Zealand, Scott Brown.

He also helped out the House GOP by weighing in for an establishment-approved candidate in a crowded Georgia special election next month — where many feared a pugnacious hardliner named Colton Moore could win the seat and cause huge problems for leadership.

But Trump has privately suggested he will not endorse in Georgia’s Senate race — one of the GOP’s biggest pickup opportunities in a state he won in 2024.

Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter, one of those three GOP candidates, pulled aside the president last week after a bill signing at the White House to speak about his race, telling CNN he made his case to Trump.

Asked by CNN whether he sought the president’s endorsement, Carter said: “You bet I did.” But in that 20-minute conversation, Carter said Trump suggested he didn’t want to choose between Carter and fellow GOP Rep. Mike Collins — whose votes Trump needs to advance his agenda in the narrowly divided House.

“He likes both of us,” Carter said. “I think he’s gonna sit this one out.”

Carter suggested Trump can’t risk alienating any House member with each vote in the chamber needed to pass legislation.

Asked whether a contested primary — and possibly a runoff — made it harder for Republicans to beat Ossoff, Carter said: “You can make that argument, but you can’t make that argument to a majority of one.”

Collins, when asked about Carter’s personal appeal to Trump, said he didn’t fault his opponent for trying.

“He’s a Republican. Ain’t he? I mean, anybody that’s smart is gonna want the president’s endorsement,” Collins quipped.

Asked whether he believed that Trump would endorse in the race, Collins added: “President Trump always has a knack for endorsing people at the right time.” (Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley is also running in the GOP primary and has the support of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.)

But Trump has contributed to other headaches for the GOP.

Last month, Trump went against Thune’s wishes and helped coax a GOP challenger into the race against Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana. The president backed Rep. Julia Letlow over Cassidy, who once voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial after the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. (Cassidy allies insist the fight isn’t over. The incumbent has a huge cash advantage, with more than $10 million through the end of last year.)

Cassidy is running aggressively on his legislative record, including bringing back money to his home state by supporting a Biden-era infrastructure bill — which Trump sought to sabotage and Letlow voted against.

“I brought over $13 billion in infrastructure, much of which my opponents either opposed or voted against,” Cassidy said. “Much of that $13 billion, my opponents either opposed or criticized me for. Now they like to take credit.” Letlow did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on Cassidy’s remarks.

But Letlow, in a statement to CNN, gave a response that highlighted a different vote Cassidy took — his decision to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial.

“President Trump endorsed me because I’ve worked with him to advance an America First agenda, including delivering real infrastructure dollars for my district. Meanwhile Bill Cassidy worked with President Biden to pass an infrastructure bill full of Green New Deal Mandates — in the same year he voted to impeach President Trump.”

Pressed by CNN on whether he regretted that vote, Cassidy said: “I’m commonly asked by reporters, how do I feel, and how do I regret? And all I can say, brother is, you live your life forward.”

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CNN’s Ted Barrett, Alison Main, Ellis Kim, Dalia Abdelwahab and Rebecca Legato contributed to this report.