Senior Republicans worried about the party’s Senate majority are monitoring the investigation into alleged insider trading by Sen. Richard Burr, fretting the party might be forced to defend yet another competitive seat this fall in a snap special election.
The North Carolina Republican stepped down Thursday as Senate Intelligence Committee chairman after the Justice Department began investigating whether he used classified information about the coronavirus to dump stocks before a pandemic-induced market plunge. If Burr were to resign under pressure before Sept. 4, a November special election would be triggered to fill the remainder of his term, multiplying the challenges Republicans face as they scramble to protect their 53-seat majority.
“People still don’t know exactly what transpired, which is why the current review is important,” a Republican insider said. “But North Carolina already features what will be a very expensive Senate race, and another one would be quite challenging for Republicans.”
Senate Republicans are girding for a difficult fall campaign. The GOP is on the defensive in Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Montana, and North Carolina, where Sen. Thom Tillis is up for reelection, with seats in Iowa and Georgia also on the party’s watchlist. Adding a second North Carolina seat to the mix is a headache and an expense Republicans could do without, especially with President Trump’s prospects uncertain and the economy in free fall. Republicans are only on offense in Alabama and Michigan.
Although North Carolina leans Republican, it is competitive. Trump won there in 2016 by just 3.6 percentage points.
Under state law, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper must appoint a member of the incumbent senator’s party to fill any Senate vacancy and is required to choose from candidates selected by the state party. So if Burr resigned, Republicans would retain control of the seat. And if Burr leaves on or after Sept. 4, his replacement will serve out his term, which ends in 2023.
Some Republicans are confident that the party is positioned to win any ensuing special election. Pointing to Reps. Richard Hudson and Mark Walker and former Gov. Pat McCrory, Republican insiders say Republicans have plenty of strong contenders to choose from — a luxury they argue the Democrats do not have.
“I’d think it would be fine. Democrats do not have a strong bench,” said Michael Steel, a Republican operative and North Carolina native.
Democrats disagree, arguing that the allegations against Burr are among the reasons why the Republican majority is in jeopardy.
Special elections can be unpredictable. In 2017, Democrats flipped control of an Alabama Senate seat in a special election after the state’s overwhelmingly pro-Trump, Republican electorate concluded that the GOP nominee was unacceptable.
“The corruption, self-dealing, and cowardice are why these Republicans are some of the most vulnerable Senate incumbents in the country — and why voters are going to fire them in November,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokeswoman Helen Kalla said in a statement.
Burr previously announced plans to retire in 2023 upon the expiration of his third term. The Republican rejects allegations that he engaged in insider trading, saying in a statement after the controversy surfaced in March that he “relied solely on public news reports” in his decision to sell a large percentage of his stock portfolio in 33 separate transactions.
“Sen. Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak,” his spokesman previously told the Washington Examiner.
Mike Brest contributed to this report.
