Editor’s Note: News + Record Reporter Zachary Horner spent parts of two days with Rep. Mark Walker (R-6th Dist.) and his staff on Capitol Hill last week, sitting in on a meeting, conducting a one-on-one interview and observing other actions and the D.C. environment. This is part one of a two-part report from that trip. In part two, which will publish in the Oct. 3-9 edition of the newspaper, Walker weighs in on Chatham, reaching a county he’s lost in the last two elections, the Confederate monument discussion and gun control issues.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mark Walker first ran for Congress not because he wanted certain policies in place, but because the word wasn’t getting out.
“I believe individual liberty and opportunity should be provided for all of our communities,” he said while sitting in his Capitol Hill office last week. “That was my fundamental belief, and I had looked at an overview of the Republican Party and saw that we, even maybe with good intentions, were failing to make sure that message reached all the audiences.”
So here he is, in his third term in the nation’s capital, continuing to try to push his first campaign pledge — “People Over Politics.”
“To be able to fundamentally do more than just simply make an argument but rather to make a difference,” he said, citing his mission. “The easier path is to make an argument. You can be on the ‘A’ block on the pick-your-news-program tonight if you walk out the door and say, ‘Ah this or that,’ and you’re on. Can you work in this environment with the discipline it takes to be able to one day look back and say, ‘We did more than make an argument? We indeed made a difference’? That’s why I ran, that’s what drives me, it’s what keeps my passion still engaged with this.”
An early morning
Mark Walker’s September 19 started early with a 6:30 a.m. football practice.
Walker is participating in a charity touch football game featuring members of Congress, former NFL players and members of the Capitol Hill Police in a fundraiser for the law enforcement agency. It was a tad chilly, so the long-sleeve shirt he donned was needed.
He mostly played the offensive line, blocking for a few seconds before darting a few yards for a short pass. A couple throws came his way during the practice, and he caught them. He also took a few snaps at quarterback.
The workweek of a federal legislator is not your normal 9-to-5 job, but the grind is something Walker said he was used to. The son of a pastor, his prior career was in Christian ministry as a music and executive pastor in various churches. He dropped it all to go to D.C., and after making it through a primary in 2014, he won the Sixth Congressional District seat and was re-elected in 2016 and 2018.
Walker’s schedule for the day included a meeting with Burlington Mayor Ian Baltutis and City Manager Hardin Watkins, going to an Education and Labor Committee hearing, sitting in on a roundtable with chancellors and presidents from historically-black colleges and universities and making votes on the floor of the House.
But that day was soon in flux. After meeting with Baltutis and Watkins to discuss revitalization of a street in downtown Burlington — not far from Chatham County — Walker had to dash to the Capitol for a meeting. He had been named a conferee to discuss the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Walker serves as the Ranking Member for the Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
“Mark believes in peace through strength and has been an advocate for a strong national defense throughout his time in Congress,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) said in a press release two days before.
The go-go-go schedule and long days and nights and hard work wasn’t the biggest adjustment Walker had to make going to Congress, he said. It was not being with family.
“Next week we’re scheduled to be here Monday through Friday, my wife’s birthday is Thursday,” he said. “So those kinds of things, you learn to just live remotely, and there are times when you’re home from Saturday to Sunday. Those things — not complaining because I chose this and it’s a privilege to serve — but the biggest adjustment is a lot of the family time you miss.”
He said he usually gets to take his 13-year-old daughter to school on Monday mornings and “every now and then” gets her from school on Fridays.
Still a man of faith
It almost goes without saying that the hyper-partisan world of Washington, D.C., could make the most optimistic man cynical. And while Walker came in with strong religious faith, he says the atmosphere hasn’t taken it away from him.
“I think the first three to four months — I can see it now when new members come in — you identify yourself,” he said. “You identify yourself if you’re going to be driven by special interest, you identify yourself by ideology where your niche is going to be. And the same thing with the faith aspect of it.”
U.S. Rep. Ross Spano (R-Florida) is in his first term in Congress and is a member of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, of which Walker is a co-chairman.
“The place brings challenges, and I think that’s true whether you’re a person of faith or you’re not,” Spano said. “I think being a person of faith gives you a leg up or advantage because you know that you’re not ultimately in control of all of the details. You’re just obedient to what you’re called to do, and then God’s responsible for the outcome.”
The CPC is a bipartisan group of legislators who meet every Monday evening to pray and share concerns.
“If there’s anybody going through something back home in one of the districts, we all sign a card and get it to that individual,” Walker said. “There’s probably a half-dozen Bible studies going on through the week and things. It hasn’t been difficult at all.”
He’s said that faith influences him in a number of ways, but a fairly different part of that faith came out in a Tweet last month.
“Six decades ago, conservatives and evangelicals refused to call out white supremacy creating a lack of trust that has lasted more than a generation in our minority communities,” he wrote. “As hate expands its voice, I hope we get it right this time!”
Walker speaks often of his work in communities of color and inner cities. He’s particularly proud of participating in a civil rights pilgrimage last year with U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) that consisted of 48 Democrats and two Republicans.
“Historically, it is factual,” he says, “that when, specifically in the South and the Midwest, the African-American people could not drink out of the same water fountains, could not sit at the same lunch counters, conservatives and evangelicals, there was a moment to say, ‘You know what? We will speak out on behalf of the injustice.’ And they just didn’t. In fact, we were complacent in it.”
Not only has that hurt conservative and evangelical relationships with minority communities, he theorizes, but it has allowed “a buy-in to failed leftist ideology and policy that has damaged many of our communities.” Christians and conservatives have “come a long way,” he said, but “if you’re going to talk about where we need to go, you need to be honest about where we’ve been.”
A popular figure
Walker has grown in D.C. stature since his tenure. He’s now the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, meaning he’s the No. 4 Republican on that side of Congress.
With it comes various responsibilities. On this particular Thursday, he’s had members coming to his office to seek support for a spot on the House Committee on Financial Services vacated by the early retirement of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisconsin).
“There’s a couple guys that have extensive backgrounds, but a lot of the younger members are coming by and giving their best pitch,” he says. “We were supposed to go Monday evening, to meet and make the final choice on replacing Sean, and the two new members from North Carolina [Republicans Dan Bishop and Dr. Greg Murphy], appointing their committees as well.”
That position, along with granting him some authority in the House, has helped earn Walker a spot of favor from the White House.
President Donald Trump asked Walker earlier this year to consider running for U.S. Senate next year. Washington-based media outlets reported that it was for the seat currently held by Thom Tillis which is up for re-election in 2020. Tillis is already facing a tough primary challenge and Democratic opposition beyond that.
Walker told the News + Record he had no interest in replacing Tillis, but didn’t rule out a Senate run in the future.
“It’s not the present,” he said. “We’ve tried to pride ourselves that we’re focused on the district we represent. As of right now, that’s the eight counties that we represent. If something like that opens in the future, then obviously we’ll pay attention. But I feel like we’ve still got work to accomplish, bridges to build throughout Chatham and Lee and Randolph and the other five counties we represent.”
He did say he’s planning to run for his same seat next year. That’s still 14 months away. In the meantime, he said, he wants to continue to try to get the message across that Republicans have the best message and maybe in the past it hasn’t been communicated that well.
“I think Republicans have been under this misnomer — we have the facts, we have the truth, that should be good enough in our culture,” Walker said. “What drives me is the motivation that we try to get in our party to be able to talk about the good things, how do we do that in a way that’s not condescending, but in a way that’s compassionate. That’s where, more than just the issue-driven, it’s more about the messaging. That’s something I’ve tried to focus on since I’ve been here.”
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.