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Lara Trump considers Senate bid in North Carolina

Lara Trump considers Senate bid in North Carolina

Daily Mail​4 days ago
Lara Trump is one of the many Republicans weighing a run for North Carolina 's open Senate seat after criticism from President Donald Trump pushed Senator Thom Tillis into retirement. But it may not be hers for the taking even if she has the support of her famous family. Several other Republicans are considering a bid, including former party chairman Michael Whatley, who is seen as a strong contender; Congressman Pat Harrigan; and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, sources tell DailyMail.
Lara, however, would have the Trump family support if she runs, a source familiar told DailyMail. Lara is married to Eric Trump , the president's third child. And Eric sparked talk of a Trump political dynasty earlier this month when he told the Financial Times that a political career would be 'would be an easy one' for family members, if they took that option. North Carolina is a longtime battleground state where Democrats tend to win the governorships and Republicans the Senate seats.
Democrats, however, see the retirement of Tillis, a well-liked Republican senator, as a chance to change their luck. The party is pushing former Gov. Roy Cooper, a popular politician, to run for the seat. Asked if he would back a successor for his seat, Tillis didn't answer. 'Dependent upon whether or not President Trump endorses somebody it could be an open primary,' he told reporters on Capitol Hill on Sunday night.. 'He could close it out and the party could get behind it, I suspect that's what they do. I just really hope he has some discernment because obviously Mark Robinson was a bad pick.'
Robinson, the scandal-ridden lieutenant governor, lost last year's gubernatorial race to Democrat Josh Stein even as Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris in the presidential race. Lara Trump, a North Carolina native who graduated from N.C. State University, currently anchors a weekend show on Fox News. During the 2024 election, she served as co-chair of Republican National Committee. In that contest, President Trump backed Whatley to be chairman with Lara Trump as his deputy. The duo served together through the election.
She was previously floated as a potential Senate candidate when former Republican Sen. Richard Burr retired. She opted not to launch a campaign for the seat. Eric and Lara currently live in Florida. Lara was touted as a candidate to replace Marco Rubio in the Senate when he was confirmed as secretary of state but, again, she opted to stay out of politics. She said she worries about moving her family to Washington D.C., pointing to advice she received from her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who both worked in the first Trump Administration.
'It was tough on them personally, but it was really tough on their family,' she told Time magazine in February. 'Even if I decided to move my whole family, dogs and all, up to Washington, D.C., I still think that it probably would have been a big challenge for my kids and for us as a whole.' Eric Trump, speaking to the Financial Times a few weeks ago, expressed the same concerns about his children and a political life.
Tillis announced his retirement on Sunday after Trump whacked him over his opposition to the president's 'big, beautiful' budget bill currently making its way through the Senate . Tillis was one of two Republican senators who voted against the 'motion to proceed' on Trump's budget bill Saturday evening, along with Kentucky Republican Rand Paul .
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