In a now-deleted article at NBC News, Jonathan Allen and Keri Geiger wrote that Breitbart News Executive Chairman Steve Bannon is planning primary challenges to both of Mississippi’s incumbent establishment Republican senators:

In regular phone calls over the past several months, Bannon has urged state Sen. Chris McDaniel to challenge Sen. Roger Wicker in a primary next year, and he also wants Gov. Phil Bryant to send himself to Washington if Sen. Thad Cochran, who is 79 and in poor health, retires before his term ends in 2020, according to people familiar with Bannon’s plans.

“We conservatives in the state, we’re going to go after both of those seats — one way or the other,” McDaniel told NBC News.

The prospect of both Senate seats changing hands — and moving from establishment side of the GOP to the tea party column — makes Mississippi a key battlefield in the intensifying Republican civil war.