President-elect Donald Trump’s allies are opening a new front in their war against MAGA traditionalist Republicans. It’s a feud over leadership of the Senate’s top campaign group.
Normally a low-profile and relatively drama-free affair, the hiring of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and its affiliated GOP super PAC Senate Leadership Fund has come amid a debate in recent weeks over whether prospective new leaders are loyal enough to Trump and the movement he created. We had an argument.
And while initially targeting top positions, opposition from MAGA Republicans is now extending to lower-level positions as well. The most recent complaint is aimed at Brendan Jaspers, who has been appointed NRSC’s political director for the 2026 midterms. The campaign against him has included private efforts to undermine his credentials and publicly pointing out social media posts by top Trump allies.
MAGA activists and consultants say their concerns about Jaspers stem from his work as campaign director for the Anti-Tax and Growth Club, which opposed Trump in the 2024 primaries and later reconciled with him.
“With all the talent available, the NRSC seems more intent on finding people who have done nothing but work against President Trump,” said a top Trump adviser who was granted anonymity in 2024.
The man claimed Jaspers “did it.”
Tom Schultz, the club’s vice president of campaigns, refuted those claims, saying Jaspers’ activities are focused on Senate and House races and school choice advocacy and that he “did not participate” in independent spending against Trump in the primaries.
Jaspers quickly became a flashpoint in the broader struggle for influence in the Senate campaign machine. MAGA Republicans have complained about the hiring choices of incoming NRSC Chairman Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). And privately, even some Republican consultants who support Scott are perplexed by his decision, which appears likely to antagonize Trump’s trajectory.
This intra-party war is partly due to the vacuum left by Senator Mitch McConnell’s departure from Republican leadership. That has prompted some Trump allies to move to gain the upper hand in the post-election power struggle.
Scott, a more traditionalist Republican, has infuriated Trump allies by attempting to bring in the commission’s executive director, a one-time adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence who has become a staunch Trump critic since the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Capitol.
That aide, Stephen DeMaura, was named deputy director, and Jennifer DeCasper, Scott’s former chief of staff, took on the role of executive director. NOTUS first reported the move. DeMaura was expected to take on the executive director role and was introduced at an NRSC event last month. However, his hiring was not announced publicly. And that seemed to change Thursday when Scott announced DeCasper as executive director and DeMaura as her deputy after MAGA activists publicly criticized him.
A representative for Scott had no comment for this story. “I am very excited about the organization we are building, the wins we will bring to the board, and the results we will deliver for the American people,” Scott said in a press release NRSC sent about the new hires. The release also touted that Jaspers “helped elect conservative senators such as Ted Budd, Mike Lee, Bernie Moreno and Jim Banks.” The report said DeMaura “has more than 20 years of experience in politics and public policy, starting, leading and growing political organizations of all types.”
Scott aides pointed to posts celebrating staffing moves at
Criticism of Scott, who ran against Trump in the 2024 primary and then became a devoted ally in the general election, did not stop there.
Kevin McLaughlin, a consultant seen as disloyal to Trump, is also not a contender to lead the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC, according to two people familiar with the process. People who have spoken with McLaughlin said he said he was running for the position, sparking threats that Trump associates would form a rival super PAC, but it’s unclear whether he was seriously considered.
McLaughlin told POLITICO that he “never had a conversation with anyone” about the SLF takeover and strongly disputed suggestions that he was disloyal to Trump.
But the feud over NRSC hiring continued, thrust into the public eye when Trump’s campaign co-chair Chris LaCivita took shots at Committee X.
“Anyone making decisions at @NRSC should get their hair checked,” he posted.
Meanwhile, far-right activist Laura Loomer, who flew on Trump’s plane during the campaign, specifically criticized Jaspers before her position was published, seeking to highlight her ties to the Club for Growth. selected.
Trump and the Growth Club have a long and complicated history. The Club, a power center for fiscal conservatives, opposed Trump in the 2024 primary. But David McIntosh, the group’s chairman, and Trump, who once called it the “Club for Chinese Growth,” reconciled in February.
Trump himself has not commented publicly on recent hiring by Senate Republican groups. Complaints about staffing come from people who have varying levels of affinity with the president-elect. And some disputes may be driven more by the financial interests and personal grievances of political consultants than by concerns about the party’s ideological purity. According to Scott’s team, he and Trump have been in touch about staffing.
But two people with knowledge of the hiring said some Trump allies wanted Dylan Leffler, the former campaign manager for MAGA ally Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), to become the group’s political director. A Trump spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
And the infighting highlights the battle to reshape the traditional Republican Party into a party in the mold of its MAGA wing, a stark contrast to the tenure of departed NRSC Chairman Steve Daines, who smartly courted Trump and his allies in a bid to retake the party. Senate majority in 2024.
Scott’s hiring moves in particular surprised some GOP strategists. They see this as an unforced error that leads to a distracting fight with MAGA loyalists. Scott and Trump have a personal relationship and were mentioned as candidates for vice president. But any awkwardness among top staff could hinder the NRSC’s efforts to increase its majority. Especially because there will be so many competing demands on the president-elect’s attention that he or she will need to support various campaign groups with tasks such as fundraising and recruiting.
Scott will make hiring decisions in his campaign department, but the incoming Senate Republican leader, John Thune, will be heavily involved in SLF super PAC staffing.
SLF was long run by a top McConnell lieutenant who was instrumental in selecting aides for the Senate campaign group. SLF’s current chairman, Steven Law, announced he would stand down after the election.
Super PACs and their allied nonprofits will direct hundreds of millions of dollars in spending into Senate races. Former Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) was recently appointed chairman of the board, but a top staff position remains open.
