Last week at an off-the-record lunch meeting in Washington, Trump adviser Paul Manafort told Senate Republican chiefs of staff that the Trump campaign wants to be helpful to GOP senators in tough races, according to three sources in the room. Manafort said if there are issues that put GOP senators in awkward positions, the Trump campaign would seek to avoid those touchy topics while campaigning in their states, attendees said.

And if Senate Republicans want to keep their distance from the campaign and avoid the candidate altogether, Manafort said, the campaign would not hold it against the vulnerable senators, the sources said.

The comments, while not entirely unheard of in the realm of presidential and Senate campaign politics, are the latest effort by the Trump campaign to build a relationship with congressional Republicans, who are battling to hold onto their narrow Senate majority and are still trying to determine how to handle their party’s presumptive nominee. Republicans realize they need Trump supporters, but are cognizant that his off-color rhetoric has turned off some key voting blocs in swing states. And if they avoid Trump, Senate Republicans want to ensure they are not the subject of a Twitter storm and a fusillade of insults from the provocative candidate.