NORTH CAROLINA, USA — With the balance of power up for grabs in the United States Senate this year, political scientists say the North Carolina race for Richard Burr's seat will be one of the most important in the nation.
2 Wants To Know asked former U.S. representative Mark Walker about his plans to run.
The Republican represented the Triad in the U.S. House from 2015 to 2021. He decided not to run again after his district was redrawn to favor the Democratic candidate.
In December, Walker and his wife Kelly released a video saying he was still debating if he should run for Senate or the House.
Our Ben Briscoe spoke to Walker about his time in the House and if a run for Senate is still on the table.
Q: "What are you proudest of from your time in the house?"
A: "I'm proudest to have a strong conservative record, but also to be able to find a way to build bridges. Whether it's in our local community or on a national level. I know that sounds kind of weak politician, but I believe it takes discipline to do that," Walker said.
Q: "Speaking of building bridges, if you get to the Senate, what's one place where you could compromise with Democrats? Take the Build Back Better bill (for example), is there anything in it you like?"
A: "Listen, I think anytime we have a chance to provide support for communities that are underprivileged, I'm always willing to look at that, with the caveat that the able-bodied adults, I would want to put a requirement there for 20 hours a week whether it's work, volunteering, education. I want to make sure we're not just helping children, but also those that can better themselves as well. That's an area I think we could compromise," Walker said.
Q: "So, if you get into the senate, what is the first issue you want to tackle?"
"One of the first things - this comes from my time as being the ranking member on intelligence and counter-terrorism when I served on the committee on homeland security - if you look at the amount of times that China is cyber attacking us, now 15,000 to 20,000 per day on some of our electric grids, we have got to be more vocal. We have to have solutions there. I think we also have a situation at the border, we have a record amount that's coming in," Walker said.
Q: "When do you think we can expect a decision about whether or not you'll actually run for the Senate?"
A: "Being fair and transparent as we can, we owe it to the people to make a decision this month. Obviously, we get people - I won't call it pressure, maybe encouragement - from DC to Mar-a-Lago, for us to try to engage more in the US House. We've been blessed to have success. We were the fourth highest-rated member position wise to serve as vice-chair of the conference, as I talked about ranking member on the counter-terrorism and homeland security committee. So, those are things that it makes to reengage in the US House. I just have to make sure this is something that, it's not coming from a pressure situation, but it's in our heart to do," Walker said.
Q: So, you mentioned Mar-a-Lago. What does it do to your chances for the Senate that President Trump has endorsed Ted Budd?
A: "Obviously, it was a large surprise. Our rating, we were the number one, America first. Sometimes, the inside politics and relationships - that was driven by the former President's Chief of Staff Mr. Mark Meadows, who kind of guided that endorsement. I think we stand on our own. I appreciate the great work and policies we were able to do with the past president when it comes to foreign policy and some of the good economic legislation that was passed. But, but, I don't know how to say this. My hope is in the Judeo-Christian values of our founding fathers and not in one individual, and that's kind of how we operate. We're our own guy. That's why sometimes, maybe not all the Republicans will like us or all the Democrats will like us, but we are going to continue to do what we believe is best for the American people superficially in North Carolina," Walker said.
Who's running for North Carolina's open U.S. Senate seat?
2 Wants to Know is also trying to interview Republicans Ted Budd and Pat McCrory. We haven't heard back yet.
Ben Briscoe also talked to Democratic candidate Cheri Beasley. You can watch that interview right here.