Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) implored those who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) during the 2016 presidential race to help reelect her in 2018. McCaskill made the pleas during a private fundraising event on Thursday, the Hill reported.

The Missouri Republican Party released audio from a closed McCaskill fundraiser in Missouri, where the senator was reaching out for support in the 2018 Missouri Senate race. McCaskill was a major supporter of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.



McCaskill took the time to reach out to supporters of Sanders, Clinton's Democratic primary opponent, to bring Democratic voters together.

"We can't get divided in a state like Missouri or we're cooked," McCaskill said.

"All of you who are Bernie supporters … I need you. I want you. I want to talk to you. I want you to be part of our effort," she continued.

McCaskill feared Republicans may give money to one of her potential primary opponents.

"I'm a little worried about a primary against me because I think the Republicans would want to return the favor," she said. "I think the Republicans might give a lot of money to one of my primary opponents doing a similar thing to what I did for Todd Akin."

McCaskill ran ads during the 2012 GOP primary Senate race in Missouri touting Akin's conservative achievements and securing him the nomination. Two weeks later Akin told a local TV station, "if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," which paved the way for McCaskill's Senate victory.

McCaskill indicated that she may have a primary challenger.

"And I may have a primary because there is, in our party now, some of the same kind of enthusiasm at the base that the Republican Party had with the Tea Party," McCaskill told the "Mark Reardon Show," a radio show based out of St. Louis, Mo.

McCaskill is one of ten Democrats up for reelection in a state won by President Donald Trump in the 2016 election.