Republican North Carolina Rep. Ted Budd won the GOP’s Senate primary Tuesday following former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Budd won by a landslide with 58% of the vote, earning a total of 297,990 votes. McCrory came in second with 25.1%, Walker at 9.0%. Two other Republican candidates, Marjorie Eastman and David Flaherty, came in last with 3% and 1%. The Republican candidate will compete against Democratic candidate Cheri Beasley, who won the Democratic primary with 81% of the vote.
Budd led the senatorial GOP primary race in North Carolina by over 20 percentage points, holding 43% of support while opponent and former Gov. Pat McCrory had 16% of support, according to recent Emerson College/The Hill polling. Former Rep. Mark Walker stood at about 12%, being the only other candidate in the 14-person Republican field to hold double-digit support, The Hill reported May 12.
The candidates in the race are seeking to replace three-term Republican Sen. Richard Burr ahead of his upcoming retirement.
Budd, a three-term lawmaker representing the 13th congressional district, first announced his candidacy in a late April 2021 video, which featured multiple clips of him next to Trump. He received an endorsement from Trump in June 2021 at the state Republican convention in Greenville after the former president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, reportedly decided against entering the race.
via joemiller