Lara Trump Announces She Will Not Run for Senate in North Carolina
The 2022 Senate race in North Carolina underwent a vast sea change in the space of just a few minutes Saturday night as Lara Trump announced she would not be seeking the seat.
Moments later, former President Donald Trump said he would back Republican Rep. Ted Budd for the seat. Incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Burr has announced he will not seek re-election.
“Now, you may have heard a rumor that I have been considering possibly running for a Senate seat here in North Carolina. So I have been considering it, and it’s a big decision in case nobody knew,” Lara Trump told North Carolina Republicans gathered for the party’s convention.
“It’s a very big deal, and look, it’s something I did a lot of soul searching, a lot of thinking, talking with my father-in-law, my parents, my husband, Eric, and because of the values my parents instilled in me, they taught me that when you do something, you give 100 percent. That is the only way to operate,” she said.
“Because of my two kids who are very young, 1 and 3, Carolina and Luke, it is going to be very hard for me to enter this Senate race right now, but I am saying ‘no,’ for now, not ‘no,’ forever, just so you know,” she said.
Lara Trump said she will be an active force in the 2022 campaign.
“I can promise you this: Just because my name is not on the ballot does not mean I am not fighting every step of the way with you here in North Carolina because if we’re being honest, this is so much bigger than a Senate seat. It’s about the future of America. We have to fight for our conservative values. We have to have a person in that Senate seat who represents North Carolina and is going to lead this country in the right direction,” she said.
The former president said he has been urging his daughter-in-law to make a decision.
“And I’ve been putting a little pressure. I said, ‘Make your decision please, because we have to pick somebody.’ And what I don’t want is I don’t want a lot of people joining a race that are big Trump supporters and then I have to go with somebody because there’s somebody in this room that I think is very special,” he said.
Trump endorses North Carolina’s Rep. Ted Budd for Senate after Lara Trump declines to run https://t.co/ABi8A7veWS
— ROBERT VINCENT (@ROBERTV40857186) June 6, 2021
After praising him without saying his name, Trump called for Budd to join him on stage.
“Ted Budd, please come up, please come up, please come up, Ted. I am giving him my complete and total endorsement. We’re going to work with him. We’re going to campaign with him. You can’t pick people that have already lost two races. You can’t pick people that have already lost two races and do not stand for our values. So I’m going with Congressman Ted Budd, complete and total endorsement,” Trump said.
Budd told the crowd, “We got a lot of hard work ahead. So let’s win this together and let’s get back to making America great again.”
Trump said the decision was not made until 15 minutes before he started speaking.
Elsewhere in his address, the former president was upbeat about the 2022 elections.
“I think we’re going to gain two or even three US House seats. We’re going to take over, if you look over the House today and get rid of Nancy Pelosi. Remember, they stick together. On an impeachment hoax, not one Democrat, not one voted against. Well actually, we had one that came over to our side who is a terrific person, actually, but you take a look and they didn’t want to do that, but they just do it a little bit differently. They play very tough, very dirty, and we just can’t let it happen,” he said.
“We’re going to win North Carolina’s all-important U.S. Senate race, and we’re going to lay the groundwork for making sure that Republicans, once again, carry the great state of North Carolina, in a number, a year, that I look very much forward to — 2024,” Trump said.
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