Republican senators are nervous about the possibility of their least favorite colleague, Sen. Ted Cruz, becoming their party’s presidential nomineee.

The AP reports that GOP lawmakers fear that Cruz could ruin Republicans’ chances of hanging onto control of the Senate in November’s elections.

The report specifically cites a quip from North Carolina Senator Richard Burr.  Evidently, Burr told supporters at a campaign fundraiser for his own re-election that he would vote for liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders for president before Cruz, according to one person who attended the event. Burr did not appear to be joking, said the person, who demanded anonymity to discuss the private gathering.

Burr vehemently denied that claim in a string of tweets Thursday afternoon.

 

The AP is standing by the story.

Some GOP lawmakers and pollsters view Cruz as more problematic than businessman Donald Trump, since Trump might have more cross-over appeal to independents. Polling shown to House Republicans recently identified Cruz as the most difficult presidential nominee for any of them to share a ballot with.

“”He would definitely be a negative,” said GOP Rep. Pete King of New York, who represents an evenly divided Long Island district. King dismissed Cruz as a “fraud” and said, “I don’t know of anyone else in Washington, certainly, who gets this opposition from his own people. … I’m talking about people as conservative as he is who just can’t stand him.”

In one clear barometer, four GOP senators have endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s bid for president, while none has backed Ted Cruz.

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