AP Photo/Rogelio V. SolisIn this March 7 file photo, Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, speaks about one of his amendments during floor debate to the creation of the Asbestos Transparency Trust Act in Senate chambers at the Capitol in Jackson. President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon is boosting challengers to GOP incumbents and the party’s preferred candidates in next year’s midterm elections. 

While former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s so-called war on the GOP continues in key American states, Bannon has his eye on Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel of Jones County.

Meanwhile, McDaniel’s announcement on whether or not he will challenge Republican Sen. Roger Wicker is anticipated by month’s end.

“It’s up in the air right now,” said McDaniel, who added that Judge Ron Moore’s primary win in Alabama last month “made the United States Senate race in 2018 much more compelling.”

“It showed that the people had reawakened — they were finally beginning to understanding there is a huge disconnect between Alabama and Washington (D.C.).”

McDaniel in the 2014 primary nearly defeated Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran. McDaniel, who identifies with the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, is the right kind of candidate for Bannon, who seeks to unseat as many “establishment Republicans” as possible, with the exception of Texas Republican Sen. Tex Cruz.

According to an Oct. 21 report from the New York Times, Bannon hopes to “make Mississippi the next domino to fall in an insurgency that would remake the Senate — and the Republican Party.” Bannon’s criteria: candidates must be willing to end the filibuster and boot Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from his Senate leadership role.

McDaniel said he first met Bannon in 2013.

“Since then, we talk regularly, and he has encouraged me to run,” McDaniel said. “He believes Wicker and … others are standing in the way of President Trump’s agenda.”

Wicker’s campaign manager, Justin Brasell, confirmed in an email Wednesday afternoon that Wicker will be seeking re-election in 2018.

Brasell dismissed the idea that Wicker isn’t conservative enough.

“As much as Chris McDaniel may want it to be true, “Washington, D.C. will not be on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Mississippi next June.  Senator Roger Wicker will be on the ballot – the same Roger Wicker known to Mississippi Republicans as a stalwart conservative, who is very popular with conservative voters, including those who identify closely with the Tea Party,” Brasell wrote in the email. “It’s the same Roger Wicker who travels the state with his wife Gayle meeting with Mississippians every weekend and every day the Senate is not in session.  It’s the same Roger Wicker who traveled the country in 2016 working to defeat Democrats and elect Donald Trump and who now leads the Senate in support of President Trump’s agenda.”

Meridian area officials on both sides of the aisle were lukewarm when asked to comment about McDaniel.

State Rep. Charles Young Jr. of Lauderdale County, a Democrat, said he has never “had a relationship with McDaniel” despite the fact that they both serve in the state legislature.

“If he’s interested in running, that’s his right,” Young said. “I get along well with the current administration — with Cochran and with Wicker — we’ve been able to work with both of them on issues that we needed to bring to the table for our area.

“You work well with those you know,” Young continued. “I know what I have now… As long as they’re doing their jobs, I am perfectly content.” 

Lauderdale County Republican Party Chairman Tyler Norman said he would stay neutral until after the primary.

“It’s really premature … to comment on that,” Norman said. “As the Lauderdale County chairman I am overseeing the primary. I don’t want to create the impression that I’m endorsing one candidate over another.”

In other states, challengers on Bannon’s list include Utah think-tank operator Boyd Matheson against Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Nevada businessman Danny Tarkanian against Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nevada) and Blackwater founder Erik Prince against Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY).

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) this week announced he would not seek re-election against former Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward — Bannon’s GOP candidate.

Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee also announced his retirement next year. After both Corker and Flake spoke publicly condemned the Trump White House, the president tweeted, “The reason Flake and Corker dropped out of the Senate race is very simple, they had zero chance of being elected. Now act so hurt & wounded!”

Corker, who denied the claim, recently referred to the White House as “an adult daycare.” Earlier this week, Flake said the GOP under Trump could become a “fearful, backward-looking minority party.”

McDaniel feels “both sides are very unhappy with their government right now.”

“I don’t hold any hard grudges — I love everybody, I really do,” McDaniel said, calling Wicker a McConnell “yes man.”

“It should make people angry. There is a lot of concern among grassroots. It’s not simply about wicker being a yes man. Anyone who examines Wicker’s records — it’s objectively clear that he has not been a conservative vote.”

Dr. Brian Shoup, a political science and public administration professor at Mississippi State University, said Americans are living in an era “where there’s a great deal of consternation in both political parties.”

“Consequently, political entrepreneurs have that ability to tap into that,” said Shoup, who added there is an “urban/rural divide” in America, as political affiliation has become a big part of the American identity. “… It is certainly the case that separating our heads and our hearts can be very difficult, and they often work in tandem.”

 — The Associated Press contributed to this report.