Amid rumblings that President Donald Trump could mount another presidential run in 2024, voters may see a Trump on the ballot before that. Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and campaign adviser, expressed her openness Wednesday to a 2022 Senate bid in her native North Carolina.
“It would be an incredible thing. It’s my home state, a state I love so much and. And look, I think we need some strong Republicans in Washington, DC. We had a great run with the Senate and the House this go-round, but you know, let’s see what happens,” she said during an appearance on Fox News.
She added, “Let’s get through this one and then we’ll talk about the next one.”
News that Lara Trump was exploring a run was first reported by The New York Times.
Sen. Richard Burr has previously said he expects to retire at the end of his term in 2022 and return to the private sector, opening the race to a potentially crowded Republican primary.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who also hails from North Carolina, told The News & Observer he has “no intentions” to seek the seat himself, but has had conversations about a potential Lara Trump run.
“I’ve had a number of people talk about running for that seat, if indeed Sen. Burr retires. My conversations have included some of the sitting House members as well as Lara Trump, and, to my knowledge, no one’s made a definitive decision on whether to toss their hat in the ring or not. But in terms of my hat, it won’t be in the ring,” Meadows told The News & Observer.
Lara Trump, who is married to Eric Trump, grew up in Wrightsville Beach and named her daughter “Carolina,” a fact the President often touted on the campaign trail.
“We had an asset from North Carolina named Lara Trump, married to the legendary Eric Trump,” the President said during a rally in Wisconsin in the final days of the campaign. “We had a big asset there, Lara Trump, and she knew that area so well and they loved her so much. They loved her so much and they just had another baby and they named the baby Carolina.”
The President still enjoys support in battleground North Carolina, where he emerged victorious earlier this month. It narrowly went blue for Barack Obama in 2008, but voted for Mitt Romney in 2012. In 2016, North Carolinians voted for Trump 50.5% to 46.8% for Hillary Clinton. This year, Trump won again, but by a smaller margin: 49.9% to President-elect Joe Biden’s 48.6%.
Lara Trump dipped her toe in campaigning in 2016, but emerged as a top surrogate and paid adviser during the 2020 campaign, attending events and making frequent media appearances.
A former producer at “Inside Edition,” she worked for former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale’s digital firm, Giles-Parscale, as a senior consultant after her father-in-law’s inauguration.
During a speech at the Republican National Convention in August, Trump highlighted her personal story and cast herself as an everyday American born to small business owners, perhaps previewing her 2022 message.
“I know the promise of America because I have lived it, not just as a member of the Trump family, but as a woman who knows what it’s like to work in blue collar jobs, to serve customers for tips, and to aspire to rise,” she said.
