GOP Rep. Mark Walker announced Monday that he would not run for anything in 2020, a decision he made weeks after North Carolina’s new court-ordered congressional map utterly scrambled his old 6th Congressional District.
Walker didn’t want to leave Congress, though, and he quickly started looking for ways to stick around. The congressman knew he couldn’t win in the new 6th District, a seat that backed Clinton 59-38, but he talked about launching a primary bid against Sen. Thom Tillis or taking on fellow GOP Reps. Patrick McHenry or Ted Budd in the new 10th or 13th Districts. There were even reports that Republicans wanted Walker to run for the open seat race for lieutenant governor, and Donald Trump even reportedly said he’d back Walker if he did this.
However, with days to go before the Dec. 20 filing deadline, Walker announced Monday that he’d be sitting out the 2020 cycle altogether. We may have him to kick around again soon, though, since the congressman said he’s considering running for the Senate in 2022 to succeed GOP incumbent Richard Burr, who says he’ll retire.
Walker’s spokesperson said last week that Trump had offered him “an open endorsement” for this contest, and Walker himself may think that he already Trump’s backing. In his Monday statement Walker also said that after this election cycle is over “we will take a look at the 2022 Senate race, and we are thankful to have President Trump’s support.”
However, plenty of other Republicans are likely to take a look at the Senate seat assuming Burr keeps his word and retires, so Walker probably shouldn’t count on automatically having Trump’s support this far ahead of time matter what he was told at the White House. And of course, no one should ever Donald Trump to keep a promise, much less “an open endorsement.”
For now at least, though, Walker’s once unlikely congressional career is about to come to an end. Walker, who worked as a Baptist pastor, first ran for office in 2014 to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Howard Coble in another previous version of the 6th District, but he didn’t raise much money. The primary frontrunner was Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger, Jr., the son and namesake of the powerful state Senate leader Phil Berger, while several other candidates had more resources than Walker.
Berger needed to win 40% of the vote to win the primary in May without a July runoff, but he fell short with 34%. (North Carolina changed the rules in 2017, and now candidates can win the first round of the primary outright as long as they have more than 30% of the vote.) Walker secured the second-place spot 25-11, but he once again looked like the underdog going into the second round.
Walker was again outspent, and the elder Berger even used his national influence to get the Republican State Leadership Committee—the entity tasked with helping GOP legislative candidates—to funnel $75,000 to a super PAC to help him out on his son’s campaign.
However, Walker hailed from the district's largest county, Guilford, and had a strong grassroots network thanks to his religious background. Walker also likely benefited from the anti-establishment backlash that harmed plenty of influential Republicans in the 2014 primaries. Walker ended up pulling off a solid 60-40 win, and he had no trouble winning the general election.
North Carolina had to redraw its congressional map in 2016, but Walker faced no serious opposition in his new seat (once again numbered the 6th District) in either 2016 or 2018. And like so many former anti-establishment candidates, Walker became a member of the party leadership by winning the post of Republican Conference vice chair last year.
Walker initially considered challenging Tillis for renomination in the winter after the senator pissed off almost everyone with his flip-flop on Trump’s bogus emergency declaration. Walker initially said he wouldn't do this in April but soon began to reconsider, but he again declined to run in June after Trump greeted the idea coldly. Walker once again talked about taking on Tillis after the state’s new congressional map took effect, which made Monday the third time he’s said no to a Senate run in the space of a year.
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