At issue: a high-profile primary challenge to Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp, a Cruz ally and tea party favorite who has long been a thorn in the side of the party establishment. Cruz has rushed to Huelskamp’s aid, providing him with a valuable endorsement just weeks before the Aug. 2 primary. But members of the Texas senator’s political team are working aggressively to defeat the embattled congressman.

Two of the pillars of Cruz’s political operation, the consulting firms Axiom Strategies and Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research, have helped steer a super PAC that is spending heavily to defeat Huelskamp, a member of the conservative, Cruz-friendly House Freedom Caucus — even though Jeff Roe, Cruz’s former campaign manager and Axiom’s top strategist, had previously pledged that he and his firm wouldn’t oppose Huelskamp.

It’s an unusual turn of events. When a prominent politician makes an endorsement, their political apparatus typically follows suit. Roe’s role is particularly surprising. In December, Roe, a Kansas City-based strategist who is Cruz’s closest political adviser, wrote a letter to Huelskamp vowing that neither he nor anyone working at Axiom would join any effort to unseat him in 2016.