作者：玛努·拉朱、莎拉·费里斯 | 18分钟前 | 发布于 2026年2月8日，美国东部时间上午7:00
参议院共和党高层正加大对总统唐纳德·特朗普的压力，要求他在党内最激烈的初选战中表明立场，以免为时已晚。随着中期选举周期可能对共和党不利，焦虑情绪不断加剧。
据六位共和党议员和竞选工作人员透露，共和党高层正做最后努力，希望特朗普——这位近十年来一直乐于扮演“幕后推手”角色的人物——能不再置身事外，以挽救可能投入近数亿美元来挽救德克萨斯州参议员约翰·科宁（John Cornyn）和帮助乔治亚州初选格局的资源。他们担心，这笔资金会耗尽本可用于其他方面的关键资源，而民主党现在看到了获得所需四个席位以赢得多数席位的明确路径。
共和党人面临的中期选举问题日益增多，他们在参议院的选情图上看到了越来越多的麻烦。该党现在被迫在阿拉斯加甚至爱荷华等传统红色州进行捍卫。与此同时，该党目睹特朗普在其他竞争激烈的初选中选边站队，这引发了党内紧张局势，例如在路易斯安那州，他因个人恩怨而支持反对参议院共和党现任议员的候选人。
共和党面临的主要问题在德克萨斯州最为严重。科宁距离一场三人制初选仅一个多月，而这场初选似乎注定要进入为期两个月的昂贵决选。据多位共和党消息人士透露，如果他失利，资深共和党人担心，如果州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿（Ken Paxton）成为党内候选人，捍卫该席位至少将耗资2亿美元。
“这是一场非常艰难的竞选，保住席位的成本会高得多，”参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩（John Thune）在谈到特朗普保持中立的影响时告诉CNN。当被问及特朗普为何置若罔闻时，图恩说：“我可能不是回答这个问题的合适人选。”
但人们对乔治亚州的担忧也在加剧。各级共和党人私下敦促特朗普平息一场三人混战，以对抗乔恩·奥索夫（Jon Ossoff）——这位唯一的民主党参议员候选人在特朗普2024年赢得的州参选。在肯塔基州，几位共和党候选人也敦促总统表态，他们担心如果候选人选择不当，可能会选出第二位全州性民主党人。
为重要竞选活动争取特朗普背书的斗争变得异常激烈，以至于一位正在竞选田纳西州州长的共和党众议员威胁要延长上周的政府停摆，以获得总统不会公开支持其共和党对手的个人保证。
自本月德克萨斯州特别选举的担忧以来，以及随着参议院共和党竞选中的第三名候选人众议员韦斯利·亨特（Wesley Hunt）试图跻身决选，共和党人试图解决党内最艰难初选的共同努力已有所加强。
此后，在华盛顿举行的多次与共和党高层会议中，这一警告成为了讨论话题。据一位与会者透露，参议院共和党竞选负责人蒂姆·斯科特（Tim Scott）参议员在会上概述了全国范围内的逆风形势，并展示了内部民调，强调科宁需要在德克萨斯州初选中获胜，否则将使共和党损失大笔资金。
消息人士告诉CNN，斯科特、图恩和其他高级参议员多次在公开和私下场合警告总统，如果他继续保持中立可能会发生什么。
参议院共和党二号人物约翰·巴拉萨（John Barrasso）参议员补充说，在参议院共和党高层的激烈游说后，特朗普“正在考虑做出决定”。
“决选的问题是，在那里花费的资金将无法用于其他地方，这就是为什么我支持科宁参议员，并计划看到他在第一轮投票中获胜，”巴拉萨告诉CNN。
科宁本人在上周德克萨斯州深红色地区的民主党意外失利（这在华盛顿引发了震动）后，再次接近特朗普寻求支持。
在接受CNN采访时，科宁警告说，如果错误的共和党人（即他的主要对手帕克斯顿）进入大选，民主党可能会赢得该席位。
“我认为如果共和党提名这位总检察长，我认为他们绝对会（赢得席位），”当被问及民主党是否有机会翻转该席位时，科宁说。“至少……我们将不得不花费数亿美元来挽救那个席位，而这些资金本可以用于乔治亚州、密歇根州和新罕布什尔州以及其他地方。”
作为回应，帕克斯顿的顾问尼克·马杜克斯（Nick Maddux）告诉CNN，德克萨斯州总检察长在2022年尽管遭到大量资金反对仍以10个百分点的优势赢得全州选举，“2026年情况也会一样，因为共和党选民正热切地前往投票站支持他。”
“我们必须高度专注于动员低投票率、支持特朗普的‘美国优先’选民。约翰·科宁在这方面是最糟糕的选择，”马杜克斯说，并指出“超过5000万美元已经被浪费在帮助科宁上，而不是投入到战场选区。”
特朗普在本周期的其他关键竞选中帮助避免了共和党内部的争斗。这包括总统最近正式支持前参议员约翰·E·苏努努（John E. Sununu）在新罕布什尔州的复出竞选，反对他自己的前驻新西兰大使斯科特·布朗（Scott Brown）。
他还通过支持一个建制派认可的候选人帮助了众议院共和党人，该候选人在下周乔治亚州的特别选举中竞争激烈——许多人担心一个名叫科尔顿·摩尔（Colton Moore）的好斗强硬派会赢得席位，给领导层带来巨大问题。
但特朗普私下表示，他不会在乔治亚州的参议院竞选中表态——这是共和党在特朗普2024年赢得的州中最大的竞选机会之一。
乔治亚州众议员巴迪·卡特（Buddy Carter）是三位共和党候选人之一，他在上周白宫法案签署仪式后拉住了总统，就自己的竞选问题与他交谈，并告诉CNN他已向特朗普表明了立场。
当被CNN问及是否寻求了总统的背书时，卡特说：“当然。”但在那次20分钟的谈话中，卡特说特朗普暗示他不想在卡特和另一位共和党众议员迈克·柯林斯（Mike Collins）之间做出选择——柯林斯的投票对特朗普在分裂的众议院推进议程至关重要。
“他都喜欢我们俩，”卡特说。“我认为他会不插手这次选举。”
卡特暗示，特朗普不能冒疏远任何一位议员的风险，因为众议院中每一张选票都对立法通过至关重要。
当被问及一场竞争激烈的初选（以及可能的决选）是否让共和党人更难击败奥索夫时，卡特说：“你可以这么说，但你不能对多数派成员这么说。”
柯林斯在被问及卡特对特朗普的个人诉求时，打趣说他不会责怪对手尝试。
“他是共和党人，不是吗？我是说，任何聪明人都会想要总统的背书，”柯林斯打趣道。
当被问及他是否认为特朗普会在竞选中表态时，柯林斯补充说：“特朗普总统总是有能力在合适的时机背书。”（前田纳西大学足球教练德里克·杜利（Derek Dooley）也在共和党初选中参选，并获得了乔治亚州州长布莱恩·肯普（Brian Kemp）的支持。）
但特朗普也给共和党带来了其他麻烦。
上个月，特朗普违背了图恩的意愿，帮助引诱一位共和党挑战者进入与参议员比尔·卡西迪（Bill Cassidy）的竞选中。总统支持众议员朱莉娅·莱托洛（Julia Letlow），反对卡西迪——后者在2021年1月6日美国国会大厦骚乱后曾投票定罪特朗普。（卡西迪的盟友坚持认为斗争尚未结束。现任议员拥有巨大的资金优势，截至去年年底已超过1000万美元。）
卡西迪正在积极宣传自己的立法记录，包括通过支持拜登政府的基础设施法案为家乡带回资金——而特朗普试图破坏该法案，莱托洛则投了反对票。
“我带来了超过130亿美元的基础设施资金，其中大部分我的对手要么反对要么投了反对票，”卡西迪说。“其中13亿美元的大部分，我的对手要么反对要么批评我。现在他们喜欢把功劳据为己有。”莱托洛没有回应CNN就卡西迪言论的置评请求。
但莱托洛在给CNN的声明中强调了卡西迪的另一次投票——他在2021年弹劾审判中对特朗普定罪的投票。
“总统支持我，因为我与他合作推进‘美国优先’议程，包括为我的选区带来真正的基础设施资金。而比尔·卡西迪却与拜登总统合作通过了一项充满绿色新政强制条款的基础设施法案——就在他投票弹劾总统的同一年。”
当被CNN追问是否后悔那次投票时，卡西迪说：“记者们经常问我，我感觉如何，我是否后悔？我只能说，兄弟，你是向前看的。”
CNN的泰德·巴雷特（Ted Barrett）、艾莉森·梅因（Alison Main）、埃利斯·金（Ellis Kim）、达莉亚·阿卜杜瓦哈卜（Dalia Abdelwahab）和丽贝卡·莱加托（Rebecca Legato）对此报道有贡献。
GOP leaders fret as Trump sits out the party’s nastiest primary battles — with Senate control on the line
By Manu Raju, Sarah Ferris | 18 min ago | PUBLISHED Feb 8, 2026, 7:00 AM ET
Top Senate Republicans are ratcheting up pressure on President Donald Trump to pick a side in the party’s nastiest primary battles before it’s too late, with anxiety spiking as the midterm cycle threatens to turn sour for the GOP.
GOP leaders are making a last-ditch push for Trump — who has relished his status as kingmaker for nearly a decade — to get off the sidelines and save potentially hundreds of millions of dollars set to be spent on a mission to save Sen. John Cornyn in Texas and to help clear the field in Georgia, according to a half-dozen Republican lawmakers and campaign operatives. The fear: The money will drain critical resources that could be spent elsewhere as Democrats now see a narrow but clear path to net the four seats they need to win the majority.
The rising concerns come as Republicans stare down mounting midterm problems across their Senate map, with the party now forced to defend traditionally red turf in states like Alaska and even Iowa. Meanwhile, the party has watched Trump pick sides in other contested primaries that have caused internal tensions, like in Louisiana, where he endorsed against the Senate GOP incumbent over a personal grudge.
The GOP’s primary problem is felt most acutely in Texas, where Cornyn is just over a month out from a three-way primary race that seems destined to head to a costly two-month-long runoff. And if he loses, senior Republicans fear it could cost at least $200 million to defend the seat in Texas if state Attorney General Ken Paxton emerges as the party’s nominee, according to multiple GOP sources.
“It’s a very difficult race, and one that’s going to be a lot more expensive to hold the seat,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN about the impact of Trump remaining neutral. Asked why Trump is ignoring the pleas, Thune said: “I’m probably not the right person to answer that question.”
But there’s also growing concern over Georgia, where Republicans at all levels have privately urged Trump to defuse a three-way battle to take on Jon Ossoff, the lone Senate Democrat running in a state Trump won in 2024. Even in Kentucky, several GOP candidates are urging the president to weigh in on a race they fear could, with the wrong candidate, elect a second statewide Democrat.
The fight over a Trump endorsement for marquee races has gotten so intense that one House Republican running to become Tennessee’s next governor threatened to prolong last week’s government shutdown to receive a personal assurance that the president would not publicly back his GOP opponent.
The concerted push to unsnarl the GOP’s toughest primaries has intensified since this month’s Texas special election scare, and as the third contender in the Senate GOP race, Rep. Wesley Hunt, has tried to climb into the two-person runoff there.
The warnings have been a topic in multiple meetings with top Republicans in Washington since then, including one in which the Senate GOP’s campaign chief, Sen. Tim Scott, laid out national headwinds across the map, according to an attendee. He also presented internal polling to stress that Cornyn needed to win the primary in Texas or risk costing the party gobs of cash.
Scott, Thune and other top senators have repeatedly warned the president, both publicly and privately, about what could happen if he stays out, multiple sources told CNN.
Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Senate Republican, added that Trump is “considering making a decision” after the fierce lobbying push from the Senate GOP top brass.
“The issue of a runoff is more money that’s spent there is money that’s not spent in other places, which is why I’m supporting Sen. Cornyn and plan to see him win on the first ballot,” Barrasso told CNN.
Cornyn himself said he approached Trump again last week about an endorsement, after that Democratic upset in a deep-red slice of Texas that sent shockwaves through Washington.
In an interview with CNN, Cornyn warned that Democrats could win the seat if the wrong Republican — namely, his chief opponent, Paxton — makes it to the general election.
“I think if Republicans nominate the attorney general, I think they absolutely do,” Cornyn said when asked whether Democrats had a chance of flipping the seat. “At minimum … we’d have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to salvage that seat that could be used in places like Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire and elsewhere.”
In response to Cornyn’s remarks, Paxton adviser Nick Maddux told CNN that the Texas attorney general won statewide by 10 points in 2022 despite heavy spending against him “and the same thing is going to happen in 2026 because Republican voters are fired up to go to the polls and support him.”
“We must be laser-focused on turning out low-propensity, Trump-supporting America First voters. John Cornyn is the worst possible choice on that front,” Maddux said, arguing that “$50+ million’s been lit on fire to help” Cornyn instead of going to battleground races.
Trump has helped avoid Republican infighting in other key races this cycle. That includes the president’s move in recent days to formally back former Sen. John E. Sununu in his comeback bid in New Hampshire over his own former ambassador to New Zealand, Scott Brown.
He also helped out the House GOP by weighing in for an establishment-approved candidate in a crowded Georgia special election next month — where many feared a pugnacious hardliner named Colton Moore could win the seat and cause huge problems for leadership.
But Trump has privately suggested he will not endorse in Georgia’s Senate race — one of the GOP’s biggest pickup opportunities in a state he won in 2024.
Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter, one of those three GOP candidates, pulled aside the president last week after a bill signing at the White House to speak about his race, telling CNN he made his case to Trump.
Asked by CNN whether he sought the president’s endorsement, Carter said: “You bet I did.” But in that 20-minute conversation, Carter said Trump suggested he didn’t want to choose between Carter and fellow GOP Rep. Mike Collins — whose votes Trump needs to advance his agenda in the narrowly divided House.
“He likes both of us,” Carter said. “I think he’s gonna sit this one out.”
Carter suggested Trump can’t risk alienating any House member with each vote in the chamber needed to pass legislation.
Asked whether a contested primary — and possibly a runoff — made it harder for Republicans to beat Ossoff, Carter said: “You can make that argument, but you can’t make that argument to a majority of one.”
Collins, when asked about Carter’s personal appeal to Trump, said he didn’t fault his opponent for trying.
“He’s a Republican. Ain’t he? I mean, anybody that’s smart is gonna want the president’s endorsement,” Collins quipped.
Asked whether he believed that Trump would endorse in the race, Collins added: “President Trump always has a knack for endorsing people at the right time.” (Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley is also running in the GOP primary and has the support of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.)
But Trump has contributed to other headaches for the GOP.
Last month, Trump went against Thune’s wishes and helped coax a GOP challenger into the race against Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana. The president backed Rep. Julia Letlow over Cassidy, who once voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial after the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. (Cassidy allies insist the fight isn’t over. The incumbent has a huge cash advantage, with more than $10 million through the end of last year.)
Cassidy is running aggressively on his legislative record, including bringing back money to his home state by supporting a Biden-era infrastructure bill — which Trump sought to sabotage and Letlow voted against.
“I brought over $13 billion in infrastructure, much of which my opponents either opposed or voted against,” Cassidy said. “Much of that $13 billion, my opponents either opposed or criticized me for. Now they like to take credit.” Letlow did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on Cassidy’s remarks.
But Letlow, in a statement to CNN, gave a response that highlighted a different vote Cassidy took — his decision to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial.
“President Trump endorsed me because I’ve worked with him to advance an America First agenda, including delivering real infrastructure dollars for my district. Meanwhile Bill Cassidy worked with President Biden to pass an infrastructure bill full of Green New Deal Mandates — in the same year he voted to impeach President Trump.”
Pressed by CNN on whether he regretted that vote, Cassidy said: “I’m commonly asked by reporters, how do I feel, and how do I regret? And all I can say, brother is, you live your life forward.”
CNN’s Ted Barrett, Alison Main, Ellis Kim, Dalia Abdelwahab and Rebecca Legato contributed to this report.
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