Founder of the private security firm Blackwater Erik Prince is reportedly considering making a bid for the Senate as a Republican in Wyoming, challenging incumbent Republican Sen. John Barrasso.
Prince, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, is being encouraged to make the bid by Steve Bannon, the former top adviser to President Trump, who parted acrimoniously with the administration earlier this year. Barrasso is a member of the Senate GOP leadership.
The New York Times, citing sources close to Prince, reported Sunday he had traveled to Wyoming over the weekend to work on establishing residency in the state. The security contracting firm founder has never held public office before, but has ties to the Trump administration.
Prince’s company, founded in 1997, is controversial, most notably for a 2007 incident in Baghdad that resulted in 14 civilians being killed.
Blackwater employees insisted they had been under fire from radical insurgents. Four employees were convicted, three with manslaughter and a fourth with murder.
In April, an Appeals Court threw out the murder conviction and ordered the resentencing of the others, saying the orginal terms were excessive.
