A fourth Republican walks away from endorsing Mark Walker’s NC campaign

A fourth Republican has pulled his endorsement of former Rep. Mark Walker’s congressional campaign after realizing he’s campaigning with Walker’s opponent.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, a Republican from Florida, had helped round out Walker’s list of 40 members of Congress endorsing him. But once Walker released that list Monday, Bilirakis told Walker he needed to rescind support.

“I will definitely not work against you but I think I need to stay out of the race,” Bilirakis texted Walker.

Bilirakis shares a joint fundraising committee with Christian Castelli, a Green Beret running against Walker to represent North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District, based in the Triad.

Joint fundraising committees are typically used by at least two candidates who believe they can help one another raise more money.

“I was not aware of the fact that you were running in the same district,” Bilirakis wrote to Walker, in text messages obtained by McClatchy.

This news comes two weeks after representatives for House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. Markwayne Mullin and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed to McClatchy that they too either withdrew support (Johnson and Pompeo) or never offered it in the first place (Mullin).

Walker has denied inflating his list of supporters, however.

“My faith is very important to me and I don’t want to ever do anything that damages my opportunity to honor the Lord Jesus Christ,” Walker told McClatchy in a text message. “I have never fabricated or exaggerated a single endorsement, ever... truth is, these endorsements mean very little, nevertheless, that’s not the way I engage.”

Endorsement announcements go uncorrected

Bilirakis’ staff confirmed the series of events that led to his pulled endorsement, without accusing Walker of any error.

“Once Congressman Bilirakis realized that it was the same race, he reached back out to Mr. Walker and let him know that he couldn’t support him,” said Summer Blevins, deputy chief of staff for Bilirakis, in a text message to McClatchy.

Castelli’s brother is a prominent pastor in Bilirakis’ district and a “great supporter,” he told Walker in text messages.

“I do not want to offend him,” Bilirakis said.

Walker has not recirculated his list of 40 endorsers, but also has not removed Bilirakis from social media postings indicating his support, nor corrected the news releases sent to the media.

The news release Monday included a statement that the endorsements were “confirmed and verified,” but had some on Capitol Hill laughing due to a misspelling of a House member’s name and the inclusion of one lawmaker who doesn’t exist: Rep. Doug Duncan.

Doug Duncan is real, but is not a member of the House. He’s a Democrat and the former mayor of Rockville, Maryland, best known for guiding his area through the D.C. sniper attacks of 2002. He now runs Leadership Greater Washington, an organization working to foster collaboration among the area’s leaders.

When asked about Doug Duncan being included on the list, Walker’s spokesman, Jonathan Bridges, said it was supposed to read Rep. Jeff Duncan, a Republican from South Carolina.

Renewed push for congressional endorsements

McClatchy had requested the list of the 40 members of Congress supporting Walker after he lost the initial three endorsements. He first claimed he had 40 supporters on the Hill when he announced his run for Congress.

Once he could no longer name Mullin and Johnson as supporters, he pushed to get a new endorsement from Rep. Claudia Tenney, a Republican from New York, text messages Walker provided to McClatchy show

On Jan. 29, Walker texted Tenney that he was a few weeks away from the primary, had more than 30 members of Congress supporting his return and would love to add her to the list. Without an answer, he tried again on Feb. 2.

She apologized for missing his text but didn’t offer support. He asked one more time adding that he was “closing in on 40.”

She said yes.

Four days after her approval, his campaign fulfilled McClatchy’s request and sent the list to news outlets and posted it on social media.

None of the lawmakers endorsing Walker are from North Carolina, which has seven Republican House members and two Republican senators.

Endorsement reversals

Walker isn’t the only candidate in the 6th district who has had to explain endorsement claims in recent weeks.

A day prior to Walker making headlines, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson put out a statement that he wasn’t endorsing Castelli in the 2024 cycle, and was considering legal action against a Greensboro-based political action committee that was claiming otherwise.

That PAC, First Freedoms Foundation, posted on social media video-recorded endorsements from Robinson, Pompeo and NASCAR legend Richard Petty, made for Castelli’s failed 2022 election.

No one is claiming responsibility for the PAC.

Walker and Castelli are now facing off against Trump-endorsed Addison McDowell, former N.C. State football star Bo Hines, former High Point Mayor Jay Wagner and plastic surgeon Mary Ann Contogiannis.

The Republican primary is scheduled for March 5. There are no Democrats running, which means the Republican will almost certainly be sworn in next January.