New Chair Daines Boosts Hill Committee’s Voice in Republican Primaries

A photo released by Rep. Jim Banks' office on Aug. 9, 2022, shows former President Donald Trump and members of the committee at Trump's New Jersey residence. Office of Rep. Jim Banks/Twitter

The new leader of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) seems to be following through on his pledge to do more to build a Republican Senate majority—a move that could have significant downstream implications for former President Donald Trump’s influence on the Grand Old Party.

“I’m looking forward to working with one of our top recruits this cycle, Jim Banks, to keep Indiana red in 2024,” said the NRSC’s new chair, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), in a statement on the committee’s website after former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced his decision not to run for the seat.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) in the Senate subway area of the Capitol before President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in Washington on Feb. 4, 2020. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

Banks is seeking to fill the seat now held by Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who will run for Indiana governor in 2024.

Daines’ predecessor at the helm of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), did not endorse candidates during the 2022 primaries.

The committee’s strategic maneuvers are playing out against the backdrop of Senate Republicans’ lackluster performance during the midterms.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) singled out Trump’s endorsements in the cycle for criticism.

“Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite limited in 2022 because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries.

“So my view was do the best you can with the cards you’re dealt. Now, hopefully, in the next cycle we’ll have quality candidates everywhere and a better outcome,” he said to reporters in December.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) speaks during a news conference following a closed-door lunch meeting with Senate Republicans at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 24, 2023, in Washington. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Daines told Fox News in December that, as NRSC chair, he will work with Trump and other GOP leaders.

The Montana senator said the former commander-in-chief “helped our party raise a lot of money” and “energized our base.”

Against the “candidate quality” narrative, some have argued that Republican insiders did not do enough to support all of the men and women backed by Trump.

In November 2022, Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that McConnell’s spending against Alaska Republican Senate primary candidate Kelly Tshibaka showed the longtime Kentucky lawmaker was “incompetent.”

Masters also criticized McConnell for the Senate Leadership Fund’s financial decisions in the run-up to November’s election.

Republican J.D. Vance greets supporters in Columbus, Ohio, after winning the U.S. Senate race on Nov. 8, 2022. Everitt Townsend

The Super PAC opted to channel money away from Masters’ Arizona contest, which pitted the Silicon Valley venture capitalist against incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a retired astronaut.

“Had he [McConnell] chosen to spend money in Arizona, this race would be over, and we would be celebrating a Senate majority,” he said.

For now, though, Rep. Banks’ (R-Ind.) success in garnering support from other Republicans doesn’t exactly seem like a blow to Trump’s influence on the GOP—a party that the former president has significantly reshaped through his rhetoric on trade, immigration, and “the Swamp” of permanent Washington.

While the field looked more crowded in December, no other major contender emerged on the Republican side. Daines’ endorsement looks less risky.

Banks, a conservative congressman who supported Trump’s 2020 presidential candidacy, invited the former president to campaign with him in a January 2023 interview with the Daily Mail.

In that same interview, he suggested that less conservative figures in the GOP were seeking to “recruit” a more moderate candidate.

The Indiana Republican has made headlines for his vision of a new “anti-woke caucus” in the Republican-controlled House.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), whose campaign was endorsed by Trump and supported by Donald Trump, Jr., has already announced his support for Banks.

He also declared his support for Trump’s 2024 presidential bid.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Daines for comment.