A cohort of state GOP officials in Arizona is trying to nudge Joe Arpaio out of the Senate primary race, according to a draft resolution the group plans to propose at the party’s annual meeting in Phoenix this weekend, according to The Arizona Republic, which broke the story.

The officials are worried the former sheriff would severely hamper Republicans’ chances of keeping outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake’s seat red in the general election were Arpaio to win the party’s nomination in the Aug. 28 primary.

The draft resolution praises Arpaio for his years of dedicated service in law enforcement and as an elected official in Maricopa County, but “respectfully urges” him to drop out of the race so U.S. Rep. Martha McSally and former state Sen. Kelli Ward can vie for the nomination without distraction.

Paul Marchant, a backer of the resolution, but not its author, told The Arizona Republic that preventing the seat from flipping was the main impetus for the resolution.

Marchant, an Arizona GOP legislative district chairman, described himself to the newspaper as an Arpaio supporter in the past. The resolution is not meant as “an anti-Arpaio thing,” he said.