Larry Downing/Reuters
Blackwater founder Erik Prince is reportedly considering a Republican primary challenge to claim a U.S. Senate seat in Wyoming. Citing sources familiar with the matter, The New York Times reports that Prince appears increasingly likely to challenge Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, with former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon encouraging the effort in a bid to revamp the Republican leadership in 2018. Prince reportedly spent the weekend in Wyoming trying to figure out how to establish residency in the state ahead of elections. A former Navy SEAL, Prince has never run for public office and is perhaps most well-known for founding Blackwater, the security contractor at the center of a major investigation into civilian killings in Iraq in 2007. The brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, he served as an informal adviser during Trump’s transition, and his outsider status is in line with Bannon’s plans to oust Republican incumbents with anti-establishment figures, according to the Times.