Donald Trump’s team – convinced that the Senate GOP campaign arm and his main allied super PAC are hiring ‘Never Trumpers’ for key roles – is preparing to launch its own super PAC to compete in the next round of Senate races in 2026, according to two close allies of the president-elect.
If implemented, the plan would upend the party’s traditional method of entering Senate races and could cause major discord among powerful Republican Party financial players — pitting Trump and his new regime against longtime GOP donors who want to influence competitive Senate races. The move would spread the money across multiple entities and undermine the Senate Leadership Fund, a group created as a centralized Republican Party clearinghouse for Senate spending.
A “war is brewing” between Trump’s team and the traditional institutions competing in Senate races, a person close to Trump said, explaining that the heads of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the SLF ‘should reflect the current leadership and the SLF. the future, not the past.”
The person, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump allies will “set up our own SLF and compete” with the old top super PAC, aligned with former Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. “If they don’t change the way they approach SLF, we will do it for them.”
MAGA activists took to social media Thursday evening to challenge Mike Pence’s former campaign adviser, Stephen DeMaura. DeMaura is expected to be appointed as the NRSC’s next executive director, according to three people familiar with the decision. He was introduced to attendees at the NRSC event for new senators this week as the new director, according to two attendees.
Neither the NRSC nor the SLF have publicly confirmed who will lead the organizations for the 2026 cycle. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who challenged Trump in the Republican presidential primary before endorsing him and bid to become his running mate, was elected chairman of the NRSC this week. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the new Republican Senate leader who was previously lukewarm toward Trump, is expected to be involved in choosing who leads SLF.
“There are plenty of experienced managers who have won races that could easily be run,” said SLF and the NRSC, the person close to Trump, “rather than relying on people who just move money and mentally masturbate through spreadsheets. ”
Trump’s team has also taken issue with rumors that Kevin McLaughlin, a longtime Republican adviser, is being considered to become SLF’s next president. Three people who spoke with McLaughlin told POLITICO that he said he is in the running for the position.
McLaughin, who served as NRSC executive director during the 2020 election cycle, told POLITICO that he “hasn’t had a conversation with anyone” about taking on the role of leading SLF. As for Trump officials’ characterization of McLaughlin as one of the “Never Trumpers” they are concerned about, McLaughlin noted that he spent the past cycle working on a pro-Trump super PAC in Wisconsin, Badger Values. His company, Apex Strategies, was a supplier to both the Trump and Nikki Haley campaigns this year.
SLF is currently led by Steven Law, a longtime GOP operative with close relationships with donors and McConnell. The SLF and its sister nonprofit One Nation have spent a combined $420 million this cycle.
“We had a great outcome on election night because of our strategy, Senator Daines’ leadership of the NRSC and President Trump’s decisive victory,” SLF spokesperson Torunn Sinclair said in a statement. “Our sole focus has been to win a majority in the Senate, and we will leave the anonymous rumor mongering to others.”
A decision on the SLF president for the 2026 cycle will take weeks, according to a person familiar with the hiring process.
A second person, a global Trump political adviser, echoed concerns about the names circulating to lead both groups, as well as support for Trump’s team launching its own rival super PAC.
“You would think that a committee that just lost four races in the states that Trump won and has only a few real offensive opportunities in ’26, including in the states that Trump won, would be interested in political direction and leadership that are in line with President Trump’s new plans. Republican coalition to protect its new majority rather than potentially lose,” Trump’s political adviser told POLITICO.
The team that led the NRSC during the 2024 election year will be replaced by a new team, led by Scott and the advisors he decides to bring in.
Trump’s world political adviser said Trump’s team is “probably not going to leave [Republican] anti-Trump candidates unchallenged,” and that “there is no chance their Senate candidates can be successful without Trump voters showing up in the midterm elections.”
The hiring moves would mark a stark departure from the 2024 NRSC operation led by Sen. Steve Daines, who developed a close relationship with Trump and urged the president to back his top picks in key races. Trump’s endorsement helped the NRSC secure its preferred nominees in Montana and West Virginia.
Daines served as a link between Trump and McConnell, two men who did not get along well.
Nathan Brand, a spokesman for Scott, declined to confirm or deny that DeMaura is in line to lead the committee but said the new NRSC chairman has spoken with Trump about his plans. NOTUS first reported that DeMaura was appointed to lead the NRSC. DeMaura did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Senator Scott and President Trump discussed hiring decisions at the NRSC, and they look forward to the coming leadership on the committee,” Brand said. “President Trump has committed to doing whatever it takes to not only protect the majority, but grow it.”
Brand did not elaborate on Scott’s conversation with Trump or when it took place. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeMaura previously managed Pence’s 143-day presidential campaign, a position he kept a low profile, rarely speaking to reporters or appearing out with Pence.
DeMaura’s expertise came from advising Carly Fiorina’s super PAC during her 2016 presidential campaign.
A DeMaura ally said that beyond running Pence’s campaign, there is little in the public record documenting any opposition to Trump.
Adam Geller, a 2016 pollster for Trump’s campaign and for a pro-Trump super PAC, said DeMaura is not “Never Trump” but “a serious operative and advisor who will be concerned with protecting and growing the President Trump’s majority in the Senate.”
But his supporters have work to do to win over skeptics.
“A lot of senators are angry, and they’re just curious: It doesn’t make sense,” said an NRSC veteran who liaises with Republican senators. “Trump just won a huge victory and now they’re bringing in this Never Trumper.”
