THE DUP leadership contest will be a battle between Lagan Valley colleagues who share the same constituency offices.
Edwin Poots and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson both have an office in the Old Town Hall in Lisburn.
They also share the building with another DUP assembly member, Paul Givan, who has already declared his support for the agriculture minister.
Lagan Valley is a DUP heartland, with the party winning more than 40 per cent of first-preference votes in the 2017 assembly election.
Sir Jeffrey has been its MP since 1997, although his once large majority was significantly dented by Alliance in the 2019 Westminster poll.
The DUP also won 15 of the 40 seats in elections the same year to the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council.
Mr Poots has already indicated he will not be first minister if he becomes DUP leader and would split the role.
If Sir Jeffrey wins and remains an MP, he will also not be able to head the government at Stormont.
If Mr Poots emerges victorious, there has been speculation that fellow Lagan Valley MLA Paul Givan could be nominated as first minister.
Within Lagan Valley, Yvonne Craig, chairwoman of the constituency's DUP association, has also endorsed Mr Poots' bid for DUP leadership.
Read More
- Videogram announcements put clear blue sea between DUP leadership candidates
- New DUP leader should be prepared to walk away from Stormont over NI Protocol
- Alex Kane: Unionism may be in last chance saloon, but everything remains in play
- Brian Feeney: Partition has failed and the question now is what replaces it
