(WGHP) — Count veteran political observer and Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer as among those not surprised by Mark Walker’s decision to stay in the race for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate.
Walker had been under pressure from President Donald Trump and other GOP leaders to drop out of the race and seek a return to Congress. In a rousing presentation before about 500 supporters in Greensboro on Thursday, Walker unveiled a new bus and said he would continue on the road to the Senate.
Walker largely has been seen as the third choice among the top Republicans who have announced they want to replace retiring Richard Burr. Former Gov. Pat McCrory has been seen as leading the field, but 13th Congressional District Rep. Ted Budd (R-Advance) has the total endorsement of Trump and a cache of cash from the super PAC Club for Growth.
Walker’s fundraising had lagged, but he has not backed down on what he has expressed as a God-driven role to be in the race. Most observers believe his withdrawal would elevate Budd to overtake McCrory.
“The bigger surprise would have been him dropping out, but ‘rebooting’ the campaign seemed to me like, ‘OK, I’m sticking with it, come whatever may,’” Bitzer told WGHP.
“There was no great change (barring a new bus) in direction or strategy it seemed to me, but whenever you have to ‘reboot’ the campaign, that tends to signal that things just aren’t going your way.”
Walker revealed that new campaign bus and made an appeal for donations, as Summerfield May Tim Sessoms said, “to get Mark on TV.”
Budd’s campaign adviser, Jonathan Felts took his shot in a comment to The News & Observer in Raleigh: “It will be fun to watch him and McCrory fight over second place.”
“What’s the difference between Budd and Walker, other than one got the critical endorsement from Trump?” Bitzer asked. “I really don’t see the benefit of what happened yesterday [Thursday], other than to perhaps signal ‘I’m still in it’ for the media and core supporters.
“Does he get a bump in the polls and in campaign fundraising off of it? Who knows, but if he doesn’t, a new bus isn’t going to necessarily help push him to the finish line and first place in the primary.”
Walker touts the support of several influential Republicans – such as South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former-presidential-candidate-turned-pundit Mike Huckabee and retired football coach Tony Dungy – and every GOP sheriff in North Carolina.
Key race
Fivethirtyeight.com lists the NC Senate race as a key to controlling the Senate. The data analysis site calls the race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Richard Burr as “Republican-leaning.” The site ranks all 34 Senate seats up for election in November. There are 19 “safe” or “leaning” GOP seats and 11 “safe” or “leaning” Democrats. There are four “toss-up” races. Wisconsin is like N.C. and a “lean.” North Carolina is one of six open seats.
In 7th Congressional District
Walker was being recruited by Trump and Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-Hendersonville) to run for the open 7th Congressional District, which includes eastern Guilford and Davidson counties and all of Alamance, Randolph, Chatham and Lee counties and a small portion of Wake County. It is seen as Republican-leaning.
After Walker announced he was staying in the Senate race, a new Republican name emerged for the 7th District: Christian “Chris” Castelli formerly launched his campaign on Saturday in Asheboro.
Castelli is a career officer in the Army, rising to lieutenant colonel, who retired in 2012 and started small businesses in Randolph County. Although he has an undergraduate in government and politics and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard, this is his first foray into politics.
The name of ambitious Republican Bo Hines of Winston-Salem also has been linked to this race, and before the Supreme Court delayed the period for all elections, five other Republicans and two Democrats had qualified in that district. The Republicans are Jen Banwart of Holly Springs, Lee A. Brian of Clayton, Benjamin E. Griffiths of Cleveland, Charles Kenneth Moss of Randleman and Lichia Sibhatu of Raleigh. Among Democrats Constance “Lov” Johnson of Charlotte and Rett Newton of Beaufort are in the race, but former Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley is considered the prohibitive favorite to win that nomination.
Tidbits
- Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday vetoed the bill passed by the General Assembly that would have delayed the primary election from the Supreme Court set date of May 17 to June 7. GOP backers had wanted the delay to ease constriction on filing and ballot printing that could be caused by Supreme Court’s consideration of an appeal of a case involving how the election maps were created. Cooper said the bill is “an additional attempt by Republican legislators to control the election timeline and undermine the voting process.” House Speaker Tim Moore said the bill “would eliminate the potential chaos of rushing a court decision and the process of redrawing maps if required by the court.”
- Speaking of the Supreme Court and the redistricting hearing, oral arguments are scheduled to begin on Wednesday in the appeal of a ruling by a 3-judge panel in Wake County Superior Court in early January that found the maps to have been politically gerrymandered by the General Assembly but that there was no constitutional grounds for having them redrawn. The plaintiffs want the maps redrawn because, they argue, they were created to expand the GOP’s foothold in Washington and Raleigh.
- Beasley’s name was in the wind when U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement. President Joe Biden reinforced his plan to nominate a Black woman to replace Breyer, and Beasley, former chief justice of the NC Supreme Court, found her name being kicked around. Beasley’s spokesperson, Dory MacMillan, told The News & Observer that Beasley is “fully committed to running for the U.S. Senate.”
Source: Fox 8 News Channel