WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump said senators who oppose his cabinet nominees should be primaried “if they’re unreasonable.”
“If they’re opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say it has nothing to do with me. I would say they probably would be primaried,” Trump said Monday morning at his first news conference since the election at Mar-a-Lago.
“But if they’re reasonable, fair and really disagree with something or somebody, I can see that happening,” he said.
Twenty Senate Republicans are up for reelection in 2026, including a handful of senators who have been skeptical of some of Trump’s controversial nominees.
Trump allies threatened primaries against Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., after they raised questions about sexual assault allegations against former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense. Ernst has since backed off of her concerns and Graham has said Hegseth agreed to allow his accuser to speak about her allegations publicly. Hegseth has denied the allegations.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk targeted Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who praised sitting FBI Director Christopher Wray, who resigned last week.
“That is how you drain the swamp,” Musk wrote on X. “How else? There is no other way.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., was among the many Republican senators who was skeptical of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Gaetz dropped out of consideration in the face of significant concerns among senators. Tillis is likely to face a competitive reelection bid in 2026.
“If they really support President Trump’s nominees, they should stand down and let the nominees win on their own merits, and I think most of them will,” Tillis said on Fox News Sunday of Musk, Kirk and other Trump allies calling for primaries of skeptical senators.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee to serve as director of national intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, are also facing questions from senators as they seek confirmation.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Bill Cassidy R-La., are also independent-minded senators who Trump allies could challenge. Cassidy already faces a primary opponent due to his vote to convict Trump on impeachment charges for inciting the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 and Collins has openly criticized Gaetz and Kennedy.
Trump has suggested that the Senate should bypass the traditional process of confirming cabinet nominees and allow temporary appointments to be made without a full vote in the upper chamber. That’s something Republicans in the Senate have pushed back on.
