Rep. Ted Budd emerged from a packed field Tuesday to win North Carolina’s Republican Senate primary, becoming a favorite to keep the seat in GOP hands after the looming retirement of Sen. Richard Burr.
Budd, a three-term member of Congress, bested former Gov. Pat McCrory, Budd’s former House colleague Mark Walker and 11 other candidates to secure the nomination with 56.5% of the primary vote with 25% of all votes counted. The next closest contender, McCrory, had 26.8% of the vote. The winning candidate had needed to get more than 30% of the vote to avoid a July runoff.
Budd’s primary victory marked another endorsement success for former President Donald Trump, who backed the lawmaker in June of last year after his daughter-in-law Lara Trump opted not to enter the race herself.
“This man is a great politician but more importantly, he loves the state of North Carolina,” the 45th president said during a speech at the state GOP convention in Greenville at the time. “This gentleman is going to be your next senator.”
On the Democratic side, former state Supreme Court chief justice Cheri Beasley bested 10 other candidates in the primary field.
If Beasley defies an expected Republican wave to prevail in November, she would be North Carolina’s first black senator — and just the third African-American woman ever elected to the chamber.
With Post wires