North Carolina GOP chair explains party’s vote to censure Sen. Richard Burr

Want to see more of NewsNation? Get 24/7 fact-based news coverage with the NewsNation app or add NewsNation as a preferred source on Google!

CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — NewsNation Anchor Joe Donlon spoke with North Carolina GOP chairman Michael Whatley about the state party’s decision to censure Senator Richard Burr over his vote to convict former president Donald Trump in the second impeachment trial.

There’s growing backlash for the seven GOP senators who found former president Trump guilty of the charge of inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol.

Two of them, including North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, have been rebuked by their own state parties.

The unanimous vote to censure Burr was mostly symbolic since the senator will not seek reelection in 2022.

Whatley says that he spoke with well over 100 activists and officials across the state before the vote was made. He made clear though that Burr will still be a leader in the state’s GOP party despite the censure.

The North Carolina GOP party chair also said he has not heard definitively if Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, will run for Burr’s seat in 2022. He does say “she would command immediate statewide attention” if she does enter the race.

Southeast

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20260112181412