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GOP primary candidates challenge establishment Republicans

FILE - In this June 8, 2010 filephoto, Danny Tarkanian speaks in Las Vegas. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. will face a challenge in the 2018 GOP primary by a conservative who is aligning himself with President Donald Trump. The bid by Tarkanian, a 55-year-old Las Vegas businessman, makes good on conservatives’ threats to challenge incumbents who they blame for hurting the years-long quest to dismantle the Obama-era health care law. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, File) FILE - In this June 8, 2010 filephoto, Danny Tarkanian speaks in Las Vegas. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. will face a challenge in the 2018 GOP primary by a conservative who is aligning himself with President Donald Trump. The bid by Tarkanian, a 55-year-old Las Vegas businessman, makes good on conservatives’ threats to challenge incumbents who they blame for hurting the years-long quest to dismantle the Obama-era health care law. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, File)

By Associated Press August 8, 2017 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans are facing a problem as they try to defend a slim majority in the Senate and win races elsewhere: They’re spending time and money fending off insurgent primary candidates trying to lay claim to President Donald Trump’s mantle and knock out the establishment’s choices.

The latest case is in Nevada, where endangered GOP incumbent Sen. Dean Heller drew a challenge Tuesday from businessman and repeat failed candidate Danny Tarkanian. Tarkanian announced his bid in an early morning Fox News Channel appearance seemingly aimed at an audience of one: The president himself.

Next door in Arizona, GOP incumbent Sen. Jeff Flake, another Trump opponent during last year’s campaign, faces at least one challenge from the right. That’s conservative Kelli Ward, who repeatedly denounces Flake while praising Trump.