The co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Lara Trump, is stepping down from her party position as she angles to be appointed to represent Florida in the Senate. Another poll recently showed she could realistically win the 2026 Senate race in North Carolina as well, should Governor DeSantis pass her over for another person to fill Senator Rubio’s seat. 

“Serving as the @GOP co-chair throughout the course of the most consequential election in American history has truly been the honor of my life. The job I came to do is now complete and I intend to formally step down from the RNC at our next meeting,” Mrs. Trump said in a post on X on Sunday night. 

The position she held is the second-most powerful in the party, with only the chairman, Michael Whatley, serving above her. During the 2024 race, she was a near-constant presence  on the campaign trail, doing interviews on behalf of the campaign and often introducing her father-in-law at rallies. 

Mrs. Trump has been transparent about her desire to serve out the remainder of Mr. Rubio’s term in the Senate, which ends in 2026, after he is confirmed to be President Trump’s secretary of state. 

“It is something I would seriously consider,” Mrs. Trump told the Associated Press. “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.”

Mr. DeSantis, however, has been noncommittal on such a nomination. After several high-profile figures in the Trump world — including the president-elect himself — called for Mrs. Trump to be appointed to the Senate seat, the Florida governor put out a statement making clear that whomever he taps for the seat must have a “proven record of results.”

“Florida deserves a Senator who will help President Trump deliver on his election mandate, be strong on immigration and border security, take on the entrenched bureaucracy and administrative state, reverse the nation’s fiscal decline, be animated by conservative principles, and has a proven record of results,” Mr. DeSantis said in November. 

Mrs. Trump used that same phrase during an interview with Fox News on Sunday. 

“I think probably my last name does tighten my political profile a little bit, but I’ve got a proven track record. I’ve been co-chair of the RNC during the most consequential election of our lifetime,” Mrs. Trump said. 

Even if Mr. DeSantis does go a different direction with his Senate appointment, Mrs. Trump’s future in Congress’s upper chamber may not be completely dead. 

A recent poll from Victory Insights shows that Mrs. Trump could be a formidable Republican primary challenger to Senator Tillis in 2026 in her home state of North Carolina. She considered running for the Senate in the Tar Heel State in 2022, though she ultimately passed on that opportunity. 

According to that survey, Mrs. Trump would take 65 percent of the primary vote in a matchup with Mr. Tillis, while the incumbent senator only takes 11 percent.