Now President Trump's ex-White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is eyeing every Republican senator up for re-election next year, positioning candidates in each race save one, the seat belonging to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Bannon's main aim is to elect enough pro-Trump GOP senators to oust Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who he's largely blamed for the president's early stumbles with Congress, casting the Kentuckian as an elitist looking down at Trump's working class base.

'Mitch McConnell and this permanent political class is the most corrupt and incompetent group of individuals in this country,' Bannon said at a recent rally for Roy Moore, the GOP Senate candidate who won a run-off primary against Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., last month.

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After successfully backing Alabama's Roy Moore, Steve Bannon has his sights set on unseating a number of incumbent Republicans, likely targeting everyone up for re-election except Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as he tries to get Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., replaced

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon's (pictured) first attempt at a Senate takeover came in his backing of Roy Moore, who won by about 10 points over the establishment Republican incumbent Luther Strange last month

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. (left), was one of the first incumbent GOP senators on Steve Bannon's radar to take out, while the former Trump strategist won't target Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (right)

After Flake, Bannon looked at seats occupied by Sens. Dean Heller, R-Nev. (left), and Roger Wicker, R-Miss. (right), both up for re-election in 2018

Steve Bannon recently added more senators to take on to this list including Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (left), Deb Fischer, R-N.D. (center), and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah (right)

Using us-versus-them rhetoric, Bannon said McConnell and the elites 'think you're a pack of morons, they think you're nothing but rubes, they have no interest at all in what you have to say, what you have to think or what you want to do.'

SENATE REPUBLICANS RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION IN 2018 ARIZONA Sen. Jeff Flake MISSISSIPPI Sen. Roger Wicker NEBRASKA Sen. Deb Fischer NEVADA Sen. Dean Heller TEXAS Sen. Ted Cruz* UTAH Sen. Orrin Hatch WYOMING Sen. John Barrasso *Steve Bannon won't find a challenger for Cruz in Texas. Tennessee will also vote to replace Sen. Bob Corker, who is retiring, which is a long-held GOP seat Advertisement

'And tomorrow you're going to get an opportunity to tell them what you think of the elites who run this country,' Bannon continued.

Alabama voters told the world indeed, with about 55 percent backing Moore, to the 45 percent who voted for Strange, Trump's pick.

Trump's endorsement of Strange didn't seem to matter, with Bannon – who left the White House in August – being able to more closely align Moore with the president's ideology and voter base.

Now Bannon hopes to work his magic again.

In 2018, Democrats are left defending 23 Senate seats, while Republicans only have to guard eight.

Bannon won't touch Cruz, NBC News said, though plans to help field candidates for the other seven seats, including finding a suitable replacement for Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn, who already announced his retirement – before publicly feuding with the president in recent days.

Bannon already plans to back Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to take Corker's place.

She's in line ideologically with Bannon and Trump, having been an early adapter of the Tea Party movement and one of 11 GOP co-sponsors in 2009 on a so-called 'birther' bill, which would require presidential candidates to prove they were born in the USA.

The former White House chief strategist had already eyed ousting Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Now he's looking at candidates to challenge Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Deb Fischer, R-Neb. and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah too.

He'll also look to find suitable Republicans to take on imperiled Democrats in West Virginia and Missouri, CNN found.

That's 'just a partial list' a source told the network. 'Nobody's safe,' the source added.

Blooomberg reported that Bannon-backed candidates must support removing McConnell and voting to end the legislative filibuster, in which 60 votes are needed to get legislation to a vote.

Republicans' two-seat majority has been too narrow to accomplish much legislatively this year, with Trump often trumpeting the demise of this rule.

In Arizona, Bannon has backed former state Sen. Kelli Ward, who has benefited from early money from the Mercer family, also a Bannon ally. Robert Mercer has already given $300,000 to a pro-Ward sup PAC.

The White House had tried to recruit another candidate to take on Flake, who has been openly critical of the president.

Ward's Senate kick-off is scheduled for later this month and will be headlined by conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, another big draw for Trump's base.

Bannon has also met with Danny Tarkanian about challenging Heller in Nevada.

He's spoken with Blackwater founder Erik Prince, as a potential challenger to Barrasso in Wyoming.

But Bannon's moves could also lead to missed opportunities for Republicans, who had hoped to pick off several endangered Democrats to enlarge their majority in 2018.

Instead they could be throwing money to get Bannon-backed right-wing candidates elected in purple states like Nevada.

One such example is Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who almost got bumped out of office in 2012, but for her GOP rival Todd Akin making a gaffe about 'legitimate rape.'

Both McConnell and Vice President Mike Pence see the state's Attorney General Josh Hawley as the best hope to pick off the Democrat.

Anticipating Bannon's meddling, Hawley called President Trump's chief strategist over the last two weeks, reminding him of their common bonds, Politico reported.

Hawley talked about his own connections with the Mercer family, having met with Robert Mercer last fall, and named-dropped other people in the Trump orbit.

Meanwhile, Bannon met with former state GOP chair Ed Martin last month, during a trip to St. Louis to accept the Phyllis Schlafly Eagle Award.

Martin has continued to flirt with a Senate bid, though didn't say if he would indeed get Bannon's backing.

'He encouraged me to keep working on the Trump agenda fearlessly,' Martin told Politico. 'We will see if that means something later.'

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel reminded CNN's Wolf Blitzer Monday that the RNC doesn't pick sides during the primaries.

'Well as a party we stay neutral in primaries, which is helpful because then we can bring the divided factions together toward the overall purpose of winning the election in the general,' Romney McDaniel answered when asked about Bannon's plans.

She noted, however, how important it was for Republicans not to lose those seats.

'We want to make sure we keep those incumbent senators in play, we want to make sure we keep those seats, but the voters are going to decide and ultimately the RNC is going to support whatever the voters decide,' Romney McDaniel said.