Get in line or get out: Trump allies warn GOP senators to back cabinet nominees - or else

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans up for reelection in 2026 face a new challenge as President-elect Donald Trump makes his cabinet selections: fall in line or get primaried.

Some of Trump’s cabinet picks, including former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as attorney general, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary and Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, drew a firestorm response in Congress with Senate Republicans equivocating over whether they would confirm the nominees.

Gaetz was the subject of a House Ethics investigation into sexual misconduct, which he has denied. Kennedy, a former Democrat turned independent, gained notoriety for his long history of anti-vaccine views, spreading publicly debunked claims that certain ones were linked to autism. And Hegseth is facing his own sexual assault allegation.

But with the 2026 midterm elections approaching, GOP senators trying to hold onto their seats could pay the price for opposing some of Trump’s picks - going head-to-head with a Trump favorite in the primaries and possibly losing their seat in the general election.

“If you want to get primaried, vote against Trump’s nominations,” Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist, said in a post on X on Friday with Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder and fellow Trump ally.

“If President-elect Donald J. Trump wants ‘em, he’s gonna get ‘em,” Bannon said.

Lawmakers less likely to heed Bannon’s warning shot are more moderate Republicans who have previously opposed Trump’s more partisan policy stances.

“We've seen what the president's done in the past, where he kind of goes after members who don't support his agenda. That often comes at the consequence of losing seats and it doesn't really help electorally,” said Joshua Huder, a senior fellow at the government affairs Institute at Georgetown University.

2026's most vulnerable GOP senator: 'I don’t get nervous'

One of 20 Republican senators up for reelection in two years, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has said he will “consider Matt Gaetz like I will anybody else.”

“But if they don’t do the homework, don’t be surprised if they fail,” Tillis told The News & Observer in Raleigh North Carolina on Thursday, a day after Gaetz’s nomination was announced.

Tillis was censured by fellow North Carolina Republicans last year over his votes on LGBTQ+ rights, gun violence and more. He previously argued it was "immoral" for Republicans to kill a bipartisan border deal just to appease Trump, telling reporters in January he didn’t “come here to have the president as a boss or a candidate as a boss,” according to NBC News.

“He's in one of the more gettable states on the map in 2026 so he's in the driver's seat, and what Republicans in the Senate are not going to want to do is jeopardize that at all,” Huder said.

When asked if he was concerned about facing any opposition in 2026, Tillis told USA TODAY a resounding, “No.”

“The only thing that keeps me up at night is caffeine," Tillis said. "I don’t get nervous about any of this stuff."

Who else might be on the midterm chopping block?

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a top-ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and vocal Trump critic, said last week that Gaetz as the nominee was “shocking.”

She and other senators, including Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, up for reelection in 2026 have signaled possible opposition to Gaetz’s appointment.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., will also be back on the ballot in two years, seeking his third term in the Senate.

Cassidy, a physician, welcomed Trump’s nomination of Kennedy – without mentioning how he plans to vote on Kennedy’s confirmation or acknowledging the former presidential candidate’s controversial vaccine views.

“(Kennedy) has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure,” Cassidy said in a statement Thursday. “I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda.”

The Louisiana senator has had a rocky public relationship with his party’s leader. Cassidy was one of seven GOP senators during a second impeachment trial who voted to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. He also declined to endorse Trump in the 2024 general election for president, though Cassidy said he would “commit to working with” Trump following a meeting with the former president in June.

But Cassidy this week dismissed any concern about facing a Republican primary opponent.

“There’s a wonderful scripture, ‘Let the day's own troubles be sufficient for the day.’ If I was worrying about two years from now, my hair would be whiter than it is,” Cassidy told USA TODAY.

Trump allies say not to worry - yet

Along with Bannon, lawmakers tight with Trump have also told their colleagues to proceed with caution.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., in a Nov. 13 interview with Fox Business said Trump “deserves a team around him that he wants,” and that it’s not the place of senators to stand in the way.

“Vote with President Trump,” Tuberville said. “And if you want to get in the way, fine. But we’re going to try to get you out of the Senate too if you try to do that.”

The U.S. Constitution grants the president the power to nominate key positions and the Senate the power of “advice and consent” in the process.

But on Tuesday, Tuberville told USA TODAY he does not think his colleagues should worry about primary opposition.

“I don’t vote for me. I vote for my state,” Tuberville said. “No, everybody’s got to vote for what they think’s best for people of their individual state.”

Another Trump loyalist, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said similarly that senators should not be worrying about such a threat. Mullin is also up for reelection in 2026

“We all got to run our own races," Mullin said Tuesday. “You can't control people who run against you or not, so don't let it control what you do. Just do what you think is right.” 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump allies threaten some GOP senators with primary challenges