Trump endorsed against former Rep. Mark Walker. Then he hired him.

Former Rep. Mark Walker, the North Carolina Republican who was preparing to face a Donald Trump-backed candidate in a House runoff election, just took a new job instead.

He’s going to work for Trump.

Walker, Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, will immediately begin working on the campaign’s outreach to faith groups and minority communities.

The arrangement was finalized around 5 p.m. Tuesday, when Trump called and offered Walker the job, Walker told POLITICO in an interview. The pair have shared a complicated relationship in recent years, with Trump endorsing against Walker in primary races for Senate and House after Walker served three terms in Congress, but lost his seat due to redistricting. “Third-party discussions” between Walker’s and Trump’s teams began just over a week ago, according to Walker.

Trump, Walker said, told him he would offer his “100 percent endorsement” if Walker decided to run for an open seat in 2026 or 2028, but told Walker he suspected the former House member would “prefer to be directly working with him in the White House,” where Walker’s new job will continue if Trump is elected in November.

“We’re delighted to go and do something that I feel like is in our lane,” Walker said, employing his often-used plural language to refer to himself and his wife, Kelly, a flight trauma nurse. The former Baptist pastor said his work will likely begin in the southern swing states of North Carolina and Georgia, though details are still being finalized.

The former chair of the Republican Study Committee and vice chair of the House Republican Conference, Walker left Congress in early 2021, going on to launch campaigns for Senate, governor and House. But Trump endorsed other candidates over him. Trump backed now-Sen. Ted Budd in North Carolina’s 2022 Senate race. And after Walker initially launched a bid last year for governor, he switched to running in a House primary in which Trump later endorsed Addison McDowell. Walker and McDowell were set to go to a runoff later this spring, though Walker said he is no longer continuing his campaign and will not request the runoff election.

McDowell had already begun to consolidate endorsements from other Republican candidates who ran in the state’s Super Tuesday primary.

A political consultant working for McDowell, granted anonymity to freely discuss the situation, said McDowell’s campaign was not involved in negotiations to get Walker out of the race. Walker called McDowell on Wednesday afternoon to concede, the consultant said.

Walker’s confirmation Wednesday of his new job on Trump’s staff also served as Walker’s first endorsement of Trump in the 2024 presidential race. Citing his relationships with Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Walker declined to endorse during the Republican primary.

The new position will include outreach to evangelical voters, as well as minority voters Republicans are seeking to capture in swing states this fall. In addition to working most of his adult life in ministry, Walker was involved in a number of initiatives with historically Black colleges and universities while in Congress, and has touted his relationships with Black civic and faith leaders.

“He is very well suited for this important work,” Trump posted on Truth. “As a former Pastor, Mark is respected across the Evangelical Communities, and lived out his Faith in Congress.”