Republican Mark Walker, 1st Out of the Gate for the 2022 Senate Race

Former Congressman Mark Walker has announced that he will run for the US Senate from North Carolina, the first Republican to formally announce, signaling what a scrum of Republican candidates we'll have before the 2022 primary. Sen. Richard Burr has promised not to run for reelection.

Walker is a Southern Baptist minister and lives in Greensboro. He was elected to Congress in the 6th CD after the retirement of Howard Coble, defeating Phil Berger Jr. in the Republican primary. He was reelected in 2016 and 2018 and then decided not to run for reelection this year because his district had been redrawn to favor Democrats. Kathy Manning won the seat on November 3rd.

In Congress, Walker rose as a member of the most conservative faction, becoming chair of the Republican Study Committee and vociferously supporting the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Even though HB2, the notorious "bathroom bill" in North Carolina, had no connection to the US Congress, Walker went out of his way to express irritable support for it. In March of 2016, as businesses and local governments began registering opposition to HB2, Walker tweeted, "I'm growing weary of the big business and corporate bullying over HB2." At a prayer breakfast in April 2016, Walker asserted that the Democrats had emphasized opposition to HB2 as "part of a calculated strategy to retake control of the Senate, turn the state blue, and establish a base of support for the [2016] presidential election."

Thank you, Captain Obvious!

Walker also voted against reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2019.

Walker's religiosity may be an asset in North Carolina in 2022. His continued fealty to Trump may also help him, depending on which member of the Trump family also decides to run.