BY D. LARS DOLDER, News + Record Staff
Chatham resident Kimrey Rhinehardt confirmed his intended candidacy for the United States Senate in an exclusive interview with News + Record.
She hopes to fill Senator Richard Burr (R) ‘s seat after the former legislator’ s term expires in 2022. In 2016, Burr announced his plan to retire at the end of his final term, after more than 25 years in Congress.
Rhinehardt, a longtime Republican, the first potential candidate suggestion in a Twitter post on February 15; if she qualifies for the ballot, she will look for a position as an unaffiliated candidate.
“I will run for the US Senate if Lara Trump steps into North Carolina,” she tweeted.
Lara Trump – who is married to Eric Trump, the second eldest son of former President Donald Trump – has hinted for more than a year that she could seek Burr’s vacant post in 2022. When Burr voted to convict Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial last month, the senator inadvertently increased the chances of Lara Trump, according to Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina.
“My friend Richard Burr just made Lara Trump the almost certain nominee for the Senate seat in North Carolina to replace him if she runs,” he said in an interview with Fox News.
The endorsement drew widespread attention and support from far-right conservatives, many of whom uphold the baseless theory that Trump won the November presidential election.
Since then, Lara Trump has not respected her political aspirations. But Rhinehardt is already decided.
“It is my plan to run for the US Senate in 2022,” she told News + Record.
Rhinehardt will represent a more traditional and centered set of ideals than Trump. Many of her political views reflect those promoted by Burr, for whom she worked as a parliamentarian when he was still in the House of Representatives. Previously, Rhinehardt had served on the staff of Senator Lauch Faircloth (R) of the NC before briefly serving on the Senate Government Affairs Committee.
After seven years working on Capitol, Rhinehardt accepted a position in the UNC system as a federal lobbyist and ended up settling in Chatham County, where he has been for 15 years. Four years ago, she founded Gray Zone Strategies LLC, a consulting firm she still operates.
Since his college days as a political science student at Appalachian State University, Rhinehardt has studied America’s complicated and demanding governance systems. More than 20 years serving in the political arena has prepared her well for the rigors of Congress, she says, and has sharpened her wits to meet today’s unique government challenges.
But Rhinehardt will not represent the Republican Party when he seeks the job next year. After decades of working for the Republican cause, his life changed on January 6, when a crowd of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol building. Rhinehardt could no longer force the party to deviate from its principles. A few days later, she returned to the Elections Council as a non-affiliated voter.
And she was not alone. Thousands of North Carolina voters – most of them Republicans – have changed their records to non-affiliates in the past two months. As Rhinehardt pointed out in a tweet on Wednesday, citing data from the NC Electoral Council, non-affiliated voters in the state outnumber Republicans. There were 2,351,160 North Carolina registrants unaffiliated on February 27, the latest data available, compared to 2,155,265 Republicans. Democrats numbered 2,479,574.
Rhinehardt interprets these figures as evidence that party politics distort today’s political climate.
“I want North Carolina’s voices to be heard. I don’t want it to be a partisan message, ”she said. “Because most of the people I know don’t sit down and think about the issues that their family faces in a political way. They don’t sit down and say, ‘What does the Republican Party suggest I do?’ or ‘What does the Democratic Party suggest I do?’ “
For Rhinehardt, politics has lost its “common sense framework” and a polarized two-party system exacerbates the problem.
“I believe there is an important opportunity for a new voice that does not have to submit to the will of a large party to just tell the truth to voters,” she said, “to give them more options, to talk about political issues in a way that they consider more than just ‘What does my political party say it needs to be?’ Frankly, all I care about is what the North Carolinians say they want? And then, we work to find a solution ”.
‘An uphill battle’
Rhinehardt hopes that North Carolina voters will identify with his platform. But, she said, “this is going to be an uphill battle anyway you look at it.”
Even putting your name on the ballot will require a concerted effort. As an unaffiliated candidate, Rhinehardt needs 84,000 signatures of support from potential voters before the election season. His campaign usually went door to door and met voters face to face. In the midst of a public health crisis, however, Rhinehardt hates the idea of compromising anyone’s safety.
“I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable,” she said. “I don’t want to be sick and I don’t want anyone else to be sick.”
But under state law, the signatures she needs cannot be obtained electronically.
“A big surprise was that signatures must be done in ink,” said Rhinehardt. “But to have to get an ink signature during, again, a public health crisis, I come back to the word meaningless.”
She has not yet found a solution to her dilemma, Rhinehardt said, but her campaign could start with an online campaign.
“We could launch an online campaign where registered voters could signal their interest in signing a petition,” said Rhinehardt, “and we could send a petition electronically so that they could sign it and someone could pick it up or mail it. “
Getting signatures is just the first of Rhinehardt’s challenges. Your platform will face the push of wing supporters to both parties who resent a moderate position.
Her position
With the coronavirus pandemic underway – and its ramifications are likely to last beyond the midterm elections – Rhinehardt’s “number one priority” is to support public health initiatives.
“And embedded in that is the guarantee that North Carolina residents have access to jobs, the ability to start a small business and prosper and the ability for our children to return to school,” she said.
Addressing the concerns of the North Carolina education system forged by the pandemic is essential, said Rhinehardt, but schools returning to the way they functioned before COVID-19 will not be “a solved problem”.
“I think one of the things the pandemic has shown us is that we have a unique opportunity to think differently and innovate,” she said, “and to explore the ways in which this crisis has exposed loopholes in our educational systems since prenatal care. . the way through students throughout life. “
The pandemic also exposed health system failures and potential solutions have sparked heated debate among Washington lawmakers.
“I believe the state of North Carolina has done a good job of managing the pandemic,” said Rhinehardt, “but I think the federal government could do a much better job of coordinating financial support for states and localities.”
She does not advocate a system of government in which Congress reserves broad authority over state programs, said Rhinehardt. “I guarantee that North Carolina needs different responses from the state of California.”
But when states ask for federal aid, the US government must respond, she said.
“The state shouldn’t have to convince the feds of realities that really exist.”
As for the free business market and individual freedom, Rhinehardt agrees with the traditional republican belief that “regulations can create unnecessary burdens and put obstacles in the way of the goals that we are all trying to achieve,” she said, “which is to fulfill the dreams of the American people, and in North Carolina to fulfill the dreams of the North Carolinians. ”
Still, she said, “I believe that regulation is a necessary and important aspect of the way we govern.” Achieving the appropriate balance, then, requires “a constant assessment of whether or not the regulations are meeting their intended purpose. And policymakers are tasked with carrying out this assessment with input from interested parties, that is, the inhabitants of North Carolina. ”
Balance and commitment are fundamental to Rhinehardt’s understanding of good governance. His stance will upset some party supporters, but Rhinehardt does not care.
“I know that much of what I said would never allow me to leave a Republican primary,” she said.
Not all of your political preferences will resonate with staunch Democrats.
“But that is not my goal,” said Rhinehardt. “My goal is to look at the facts, to present them to the people of North Carolina – who are very intelligent and can assess things for what they are – and then we will solve the problem.”
Reporter D. Lars Dolder can be reached at [email protected] and Twitter @dldolder.