'Big Lie' Extremist Budd To Face Beasley In North Carolina Senate Race

@jeisrael
'Big Lie' Extremist Budd To Face Beasley In North Carolina Senate Race

Rep. Ted Budd, left, and Cheri Beasley

On Tuesday, North Carolina Republicans selected Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), a far-right extremist who has pushed false claims about the 2020 election, to be their Senate nominee. He will face Democratic nominee Cheri Beasley, a former chief justice of the state's Supreme Court.

As of Wednesday morning, Budd had received more than 58 percent of the GOP primary vote. Former Gov. Pat McCrory received just below 25 percent of the vote, while former Rep. Mark Walker received about nine percent of the vote.

Budd was a vocal backer of efforts to overturn President Joe Biden's victory over former President Donald Trump, baselessly claiming that Americans had no faith in the results due to "legitimate concerns over voter fraud, machine irregularities, and mail-in ballots."

Budd voted to overturn North Carolina's Electoral College results, citing "irregularities & constitutional violations" and defended that move as recently as Monday.

Though Budd did once admit that Biden was the legitimate president, Trump endorsed Budd anyway, telling supporters he was "someone you’ll be very proud of. He'll fight like hell."

Since getting elected to the U.S. House in 2016, Budd has repeatedly embraced extreme positions. He joined the far-right Freedom Caucus, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, urged the Supreme Court to reject LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as "a very intelligent actor."

In 2019, Budd refused to say that it was inappropriate for a U.S. president to ask other countries to meddle in American elections, calling it a "tricky question."

The following year, he suggested that stay-at-home orders to curb the COVID-19 pandemic were being pushed by Democratic politicians with a "socialist bent."

Last June, Budd pushed to cut $111 million in transportation funds earmarked for his own state, calling it "pork-barrel spending."

As a candidate, Budd has presented himself as an outsider who "can't be bought by the swamp," despite receiving significant funding from lobbyists and lobbying firms.

Democratic voters selected Beasley as their nominee. After years of working as a public defender and a judge, she was appointed to lead the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2019 — becoming the first Black woman to hold that post.

Her campaign has focused on justice for all, affordable health care, women's rights, and safeguarding the right to vote. Unlike Budd, she strongly supports codifyingRoe v. Wade.

North Carolina has been a swing state in recent elections. The state narrowly voted for Trump in 2020 (49.9 percent to 48.6 percent), while also re-electing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper (51.5 percent to 47 percent).

The seat is open because Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) is retiring. The Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball both list the seat as leaning Republican in November.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

Advertising

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

Charlie Kirk

Charlie Kirk

Rupert Murdoch announced on September 21 that he will be stepping down as chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp. after a 70-year career poisoning global media with right-wing lies and hate. Fox is now in the hands of Lachlan Murdoch, whose track record at the company indicates he is even more grimly ideological than his father, serving as the main force backing Tucker Carlson’s on-air white supremacy and pushing the network to support Donald Trump’s 2020 election lies despite their financial consequences.

Keep reading...Show less
Bob Menendez

Sen. Bob Menendez

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey isn't backing down as he faces a lurid set of corruption charges—complete with gold bars and stacks of cash—and many prominent Democrats have had nothing to say. That silence is troubling, but it’s also a departure from the previous time Menendez was indicted, when Democrats rallied around him. But Friday evening, the dam may have started to burst, with New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and the speaker of the state Assembly calling on Menendez to resign, along with Rep. Mikie Sherill (D-NJ).

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}