
 
 Erik Prince (right) leaves the House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the Blackwater Security firm conduct in Iraq. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) 
 
 Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL and founder of the Blackwater security contractor, is considering a run for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming after being encouraged to enter politics by Stephen K. Bannon, president Trump’s former chief strategist, according to a report in the New York Times. 
 
 Prince’s candidacy would continue an insurgency bubbling up in the GOP in the wake of Trump’s election. The Times reported that Prince traveled to Wyoming over the weekend to explore how to establish residency there and that he is interested in taking on Sen. John Barrasso, who has held the seat for a decade, in the Republican primary. 
 
 Prince is an ardent Trump supporter whose sister, Betsy DeVos, serves as education secretary. Prince contributed $250,000 to Trump’s campaign, the national party and a pro-Trump super PAC led by Rebekah Mercer, a GOP donor. 
 
 Prince is best known as the founder of Blackwater, the contractor that won tens of millions of dollars in contracts after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In an incident in 2007, the company’s guards were accused and later convicted of killing civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square. 
 
 Prince sold his stake in Blackwater, but he is still involved with military contracting through a Hong Kong-based company, Frontier Services Group. Earlier this year, he argued that the Trump administration should increasingly rely on contractors in Afghanistan — though that plan was opposed by top defense officials. ||||| WASHINGTON — Erik Prince, the founder of the security contractor Blackwater, is seriously considering a Republican primary challenge for a Senate seat in Wyoming, potentially adding a high-profile contender to a fledgling drive to oust establishment lawmakers with insurgents in the mold of President Trump. 
 
 Mr. Prince appears increasingly likely to challenge John Barrasso, a senior member of the Senate Republican leadership, according to people who have spoken to him in recent days. He has been urged to run next year by Stephen K. Bannon, who is leading the effort to shake up the Republican leadership with financial backing from the New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah. 
 
 Over the weekend, Mr. Prince traveled to Wyoming with his family to explore ways to establish residency there, said one person who had spoken to him. 
 
 If he runs, Mr. Prince would face formidable obstacles in seeking to unseat Mr. Barrasso, a popular and genial but low-profile senator who will have the full backing of Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and the well-funded political committees loyal to him. Mr. Prince, who has never run for public office, has been a polarizing figure for years, as Blackwater faced a welter of ethical and legal problems over its work for the military in places like Iraq, including an episode in 2007 in which its employees killed 17 civilians in Baghdad.
– The man who founded the controversial security contractor Blackwater is considering running for Congress, and he'll have the backing of Breitbart leader and former White House advisor Steve Bannon if he does. Erik Prince is reportedly considering a challenge to Republican Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, the Washington Post reports, part of an insurgency against the Republican establishment being led by Bannon and funded by New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah. That insurgency was given a jolt last month when Bannon-backed conservative Roy Moore defeated Senator Luther Strange in an Alabama Republican primary. Prince is a longtime Trump supporter, and his sister is Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education. A Prince campaign wouldn't come without controversy. In 2014, 14 Blackwater guards were convicted of manslaughter, and one of murder, after opening fire on a crowded square in Iraq in 2007, killing 17 Iraqi civilians. And along with Bannon, Prince pushed a proposal earlier this year to replace American soldiers with contractors in Afghanistan that was opposed by Trump's national security team, the New York Times reports. And while Prince had an address in Wyoming in the late 1990s and early 2000s, his home state is Michigan, which could be a political problem for him if he runs. In addition, John Barrasso is a popular sitting senator who would have the full backing of McConnell and the Republican establishment.