Trump’s people are rising!
North Carolina’s Senate race for the seat of retiring Senator Richard Burr has seen Trump-backed U.S. Rep. Ted Budd pull ahead of other GOP candidates.
According to polling, first reported by the Raleigh News and Observer, Budd is leading his GOP contemporaries by double digits. He has managed to pull ahead of other notable GOP candidates vying for the role, including former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, and Marjorie Eastman, a political newcomer.
Budd’s strategy has seen him skip debates in favor of campaign events and million-dollar commercials that he hopes will resonate with voters and ensure he receives the party vote.
Budd has also received support from the Club for Growth, an influential PAC that intends to spend $14 million to support Budd in the primary.
McCrory, a distant second on the polls, has accused the super PAC of attempting to steal the election “through deception.” His comments follow the airing of an ad on statewide television on Wednesday (April 20). In the ad, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson endorses Budd. The ad also criticizes McCrory’s tenure as Governor.
The ad — sticking to a similar theme the PAC has used targeting McCrory in other campaigns — uses Robinson’s endorsement to portray McCrory as a liberal. Robinson, who has become a reckoning force among North Carolina conservatives, says, “Now look, I voted for Pat McCrory in the past, but not this time.”
Robinson then goes on to say that while McCrory’s “a nice guy, he’s no conservative,” contrasting those statements by calling Budd a “principled, conservative choice for U.S. Senate.”
Over the next two weeks the PAC will spend $1.3 million to keep the ad playing on statewide television ahead of the primary on May 17.
Last April, Budd traveled to Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, hoping to receive Trump’s endorsement. By June, the former President had announced he would be endorsing Budd to replace retiring Burr in North Carolina’s Senate race. The earlier this month, Robinson announced his endorsement of Budd at a Trump rally in Johnston County.
