RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Republican Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, a top conservative ally of President Donald Trump, said Thursday he won’t seek reelection next year. He is expected to join the Trump administration in a yet-to-be-finalized role.
Now in his seventh year in the House, Meadows has been a leader of hard-right conservatives who repeatedly defied and bedeviled two GOP House speakers. His disruptive tactics seemed to make him a kindred spirit with Trump, and the two men meet and confer often.
Meadows’ name has been floated inside the White House at times as a possible replacement for Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. But Meadows is instead currently expected to join the White House in a yet-to-be-finalized senior adviser or strategist role, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
While Meadows had openly expressed his desire to serve as Trump’s chief of staff in the past, he is not expected to replace anyone currently working at the White House.
And one of those people said they expected the role to be temporary, with Meadows eventually returning to the private sector.