McCrory Joins North Carolina Republican Race to Replace Burr

(Bloomberg) -- Former Republican North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory announced Wednesday he’s running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Richard Burr, portraying himself as a vital Washington outsider.

“It’s time we join together and take back the Senate from Kamala Harris. So I’m in,” McCrory said in his announcement video, noting that the vice president is the tie-breaking vote in a 50-50 Senate. “Let’s put America first and bring conservative, North Carolina common sense to Washington.”

McCrory, 64, a former Charlotte mayor who served as governor for one term from 2013 to 2017, joins a GOP primary that already includes former Republican Representative Mark Walker. Other candidates including Lara Trump, former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, are also considering entering the race.

Walker issued a statement on Monday, ahead of McCrory’s expected announcement, saying the former governor has been critical of conservatives including Trump and that he’s running “to provide North Carolina with its first real conservative senator in years.”

Burr, one of only six Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in February on the impeachment charge that he was responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, has announced that he’ll retire at the end of his term.

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