Rep. Ted Budd enters North Carolina U.S. Senate race

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina U.S. Rep. Ted Budd announced Wednesday morning that he will seek the Republican nomination for the 2022 Senate election.

The staunch ally of former President Donald Trump first elected to Congress in 2016 said in a video declaring his candidacy that he will push back against what he considers a radical agenda under President Joe Biden.

“We all know that Joe Biden is a weak leader who won't stand up to the radical left," Budd said. “Today, the U.S. Senate is the last line of defense against becoming a woke, socialist wasteland.”

The 49-year-old Winston-Salem native highlighted his upbringing in Davie County, noted he is a proud shooting range owner and embraced several culture war symbols. He alluded to six Dr. Seuss books a publisher will stop printing over racist and insensitive imagery, noting that he and his wife read Dr. Seuss books to their children and that “they turned out just fine.”

“The only trigger warning around here is keep your finger off it until you’re ready to fire,” Budd said.

Central to Budd’s campaign will be issues of immigration, religious liberty and the economy.

He showcased in his announcement video compliments Trump made about him at political rallies. The three-term congressman drove a monster truck to present himself as a “liberal agenda crusher" and identified as a “political outsider” who “can't be bought by the swamp."

“I've shoveled a lot of manure on my family's farm, and it's not the dirtiest job that I've ever had now that I've been in Congress," Budd said.

The congressman grew up on a Davie County farm and got an MBA from Wake Forest University. He previously worked for his family’s landscaping and janitorial business and created a company with his father that invested in agricultural businesses.

Jonathan Felts, a 48-year-old who has been friends with Budd since second grade and is a senior adviser to his campaign, said the congressman privately met with Trump on Friday at Mar-a-Lago and spoke with him for about half an hour to discuss his senate bid and the former president's accomplishments.

“There was no endorsement, but it was an encouraging meeting,” Felts said.

Budd is the third major GOP candidate to enter the race. Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker and former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory have also declared their Senate bids. Felts said Budd has been in “constant communication” with Lara Trump, the former president's daughter-in-law who has yet to rule out a senate bid.

“He spoke with her before he got into the race to let her know he was looking at it based on the fact that we felt like we needed to have an America-first candidate in this race, and if she doesn't run, there was a void there Ted felt like and he wanted to fill that void," Felts said.

In a statement, Walker welcomed Budd's candidacy but took aim at McCrory by alluding to his 2008 and 2016 gubernatorial election defeats.

“All conservatives in North Carolina must stand together so we do not elect another establishment politician to the Senate who says one thing when running and does another when elected,” Walker said, adding that the party "must stay grounded in finally giving our state conservative leadership in the Senate and not gambling on a career politician who has lost more statewide races than he’s won.”

Including his primary victories, McCrory has won more statewide races than he's lost. McCrory began his political career in 1989 on Charlotte's City Council and later became the city's longest-serving mayor.

“Ted ran for office in 2016,” Felts said. “Pat McCrory ran for office in 1989. If you want to label one of those a career politician, I think it's pretty clear which one that would be.”

State Sen. Jeff Jackson and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley are the top Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for the 2022 election.

Budd went to Congress after getting the most votes in a 17-candidate GOP primary in 2016. He won the general election later that year and has been reelected twice. His 2016 campaign benefited from the Club for Growth super PAC, which spent about $500,000 during the primary to help introduce him to voters. The group immediately endorsed his senate campaign Wednesday.

Budd joined the House Freedom Caucus after arriving to Congress. He was one of seven Republican members in North Carolina's congressional delegation this year who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Budd was among the first to announce his plans not to certify the results.

Bobbie Richardson, chairman of North Carolina's Democratic Party, said in a statement that Budd is a “far-right Freedom Caucus extremist” who “followed Donald Trump off the election fraud cliff when he undermined our democracy, spread dangerous and false conspiracy theories, and fought to overturn the election results even after the violent insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th.”

Budd said in his announcement video that he believes elections should be fair and secure. He also continually embraced Trump's messaging.

“I believe in freedom, capitalism and putting America first," Budd said.

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Anderson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.