In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he may have to get directly involved in Republican Party Senate primaries to ensure GOP voters elect candidates that have a chance of winning the general election, not extremists.

McConnell said the key to Republicans retaking the Senate in 2022 will be “getting candidates who can actually win in November. That may or may not involve trying to affect the outcome of the primaries.”

Republicans hold 20 of the 34 Senate seats that will be up for election in the 2022 midterms.  A number of those seats are held by more moderate members of the GOP, including one by Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted to convict Donald Trump during this impeachment trial.  Four others, in Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio, will not have an incumbent because the Republicans holding those seats are retiring. 

“I personally don’t care what kind of Republican they are, what kind of lane they consider themselves in,” McConnell said. “What I care about is electability.”

After voting to acquit Trump of impeachment charges, McConnell took to the floor of the Senate to give a scathing indictment of Trump, saying he was “practically and morally responsible” for the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol that caused seven deaths.

Trump has hinted that he will use a sizable Leadership PAC to swing primaries away from Republicans who, he felt, were disloyal to him personally.  That could mean fringe, conspiracy-promoting candidates endorsed by Trump might win primaries, or at the very least, cause more electable Republicans to spend tens of millions in primary fights.

“I don’t rule out the prospect that he may well be supporting good candidates,” McConnell said. “I’m not assuming that, to the extent the former president wants to continue to be involved, he won’t be a constructive part of the process.”