Republican Senate candidate Mark Walker of North Carolina is pushing back against a prediction by Senator Lindsey Graham of neighboring South Carolina.
Graham, a big ally and supporter of former President Donald Trump, says the vote by outgoing GOP Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina to condemn Trump in his indictment will give the former president’s daughter-in-law – Lara Trump – a caught up to win the 2022 Republican nomination to succeed Burr.
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“The biggest winner of this whole indictment, I think, is Lara Trump,” Graham predicted on Fox News Sunday. ‘My dear friend Richard Burr, whom I love, and I have been friends for a long time, Lara Trump just made the certain nominee for the North Carolina Senate seat to replace him when she’s running, and I will definitely be behind her because I think she represents the future of the Republican Party. ‘
24 hours fast ahead and Walker – the only major Republican so far to jump in the race – addressed Graham’s comments.
“In the words of I believe it was John Ashcroft, Lindsey is always confident, but not always right,” Walker said Monday morning on FOX Business ‘Mornings with Maria’ when he met the former U.S. attorney general and senator and governor of Missouri paraphrased. .
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Walker said he does not care what other potential candidates could jump in the North Carolina Senate race, which is likely to be one of the most controversial and costly Senate battles next year, as Republicans try to get the majority in the chamber they just lost, to regain. in the 2020 election cycle.
“We can not control what anyone else does,” Walker stressed. “It’s something we’re focused on because it’s in our hearts to do, service has been a part of our lives for almost a quarter of a century and we will continue to do so.”
Burr announced when he last ran for re-election in 2016 that he would not aim for a fourth term in 2022. Walker, a former three-term congressman and minister, began his Senate candidacy in early December, with his announcement first shared with Fox News.
While Walker, chairman of the Conservative Republican Study Group, is the first Republican candidate to run in the race, it is doubtful he will be the only one to declare his or her candidacy. Former Gov. Pat McCrory would be a strong contender if he launched a Senate bid.
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So does Trump, the 38-year-old wife of Trump’s son Eric. The former TV producer, who was a senior adviser to the then president’s re-election campaign in 2020, was born and raised in North Carolina, although she and Eric Trump and their children currently live in the northern suburbs of New York City.
In November and December, Lara Trump flirted with the possibility of running for the Senate, including repeating a poll that suggested she would be the forerunner of the GOP if she entered the race.
But she has been silent since the January 6 storm of the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists and other Trump supporters that would disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the presidential election.
Doug Heye, a former Republican National Committee spokesman and a North Carolina native who previously spoke to Mr. Burr worked, Graham’s prediction that Burr’s conviction would strengthen Lara Trump.
“I do not see at all how Saturday’s voice affects it,” Heye argued. “You have to do crazy algebra and cheat on your math to get it.”
Heye admitted that “Trump could raise a lot of money” if Trump ran, but he asked if she was going to start a campaign.
The House voted on January 13 – a week after the Capitol attack – to accuse the then president of one way of inciting the uprising, and ten Republicans from the House joined all 222 Democrats in the chamber. On Saturday, seven Republicans, including Burr, joined all 50 Democrats in the Senate and voted to convict Trump. But with 67 votes needed to plead guilty, Trump was acquitted.
Walker took to Twitter to disagree with Burr’s vote, writing, “Wrong vote, Senator Burr. I’m replacing Richard Burr because North Carolina needs a true Conservative champion as their next senator.”
And Walker said he supports the North Carolina GOP’s efforts to censor Burr for his vote to convict Trump.
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Walker told FOX Business on Monday that he did not agree with a speech by Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Minutes after Trump was acquitted. McConnell, who voted to acquit Trump, stressed that there was no doubt that the former president was ‘practically and morally responsible’ for provoking insurgency and stressed that Trump could still face criminal prosecution .
“I do not agree with him,” Walker said.
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North Carolina’s other Republican senator, Thom Tillis, also voted to acquit Trump, but, like McConnell, used his statement after the verdict to possibly invite prosecutors to charge the former president, saying Trump’s ultimate liability is through our criminal justice system ‘.
Asked about the current division in the Republican Party between Trump loyalists and conservatives who want to move the party past the Trump era, when the then president reformed and ruled the GOP, Walker said: “there is division, but there is also opportunities to bring people together. “