CNN: “The 2022 US Senate race in North Carolina could provide an early test of whether the Republican Party will continue to embrace President Donald Trump after his loss, potentially featuring Lara Trump, the President’s daughter-in-law, against a field of current and former Republican officials unwilling to step aside. Her public interest in the seat has not scared off a number of Senate Republican aspirants, who are driven in part by the alluring prospect of running for an open seat in the first midterm election of a Democratic president, which usually favors the opposing party. But Republican operatives warn that the family will still hold great political power over the party despite its patriarch’s devastating loss, saying Lara Trump could be a formidable candidate in a primary election for the seat that could determine the control of the Senate.”

“A Trump candidacy would be difficult for any Republican to challenge, since many of the party’s supporters are united by the President’s personality rather than ideological principles. North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker announced his Senate campaign earlier this month, pitching himself in the purple state as both ‘a conservative warrior and a bridge builder.’ He has already received the endorsements of GOP Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and James Lankford of Oklahoma, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. When asked in a recent interview about Lara Trump’s potential candidacy, the Baptist pastor previewed one potential attack. ‘There’s nothing against the law for somebody moving from New York state to North Carolina to run,’ Walker told CNN. ‘We’re going to stay focused on what we’ve accomplished,’ he added. ‘I have nothing bad to say about the (Trump) family.'”