The victory of deeply conservative candidate Roy Moore in Tuesday's hotly contested Alabama Senate primary has emboldened activists and potential candidates alike, threatening to set off a wave of tough GOP races and ushering in a new era of internecine Republican warfare that party leaders had hoped would end when they won control of the government.

"There's no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a determining factor for a lot of Deep South states, no question," said Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel, who lost a hugely controversial primary contest against Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014 but is considering another Senate primary run in 2018. "If Alabama can send a true conservative to Washington, and Texas can send a true conservative to Washington, so can Mississippi and Tennessee and Florida and other states."

Asked, at a Moore rally here the night before the election, whether a Moore victory would make him more inclined to run, McDaniel replied to a small group of reporters: "It certainly plays a role… we're here to cheer on our friend Roy Moore, and then to begin to prepare, possibly, for a run in 2018."