President Trump gets involved as NC’s Senate race comes together
Happy Monday! It’s Danielle Battaglia with the latest edition of Under the Dome focused on President Donald Trump.
A lot can happen in a week.
On Thursday night, Trump weighed into North Carolina’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, telling his supporters to urge Republican National Committee chairmanMichael Whatley to run. If Whatley is agreeable, he gets Trump’s “complete and total endorsement.”
There’s no higher seal of approval from Trump than those four words.
All eyes have been on North Carolina’s Senate race since June when Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from Huntersville, announced he would not seek reelection following a policy dispute involving Medicaid coverage.
Many believed that either Whatley, or his RNC co-chair, Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, would run instead.
A stream of constant news surrounding the race began Wednesday afternoon when media outlets began reporting that former Gov. Roy Cooper would announce Monday he is running on the Democratic ticket.
Cooper’s team would not confirm the news Wednesday, other than to say that he would make an announcement in the coming days. (Saturday night, Cooper did hint at a run while speaking at the Democrats’ Unity Dinner fundraiser.)
The next morning, news broke that Whatley planned to leave the RNC and announce his run for Senate. An official announcement has not yet followed, but Democrats responded quickly to the possibility of Whatley’s run.
A few hours later, Lara Trump said she would not run. Earlier in the week, she announced she would release the fourth single of her music career. She’s also focused on her hosting role with Fox News.
Later that night, her father-in-law offered his blessing to Whatley’s run, and named a potential replacement at the RNC: Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters.
Expect a full slate of Senate news to continue this week.
Here are other stories from the week:
- NC lawmakers are reviewing how changes to Medicaid funding will impact the state, Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi reports.
- Enrolled in Medicaid? Immigration officials now have access to your information, Avi Bajpai and Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi report.
- Republicans didn’t want to deal with the Epstein files, so the House left for a five-week recess.
- A grassroots organization is warning that ICE agents were spotted at the Durham courthouse, Kristen Johnson reports.
- Civil Rights attorney James Ferguson died this week. Nora O’Neill deep-dives his career’s impact.
That’s it for now. Be kind to each other. And check back tomorrow for the Under the Dome podcast newsletter.
And if you have any feedback or tips for this new edition of the newsletter feel free to reach out to me directly at dbattaglia@mcclatchydc.com.
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