As some Republicans move to the middle, NC’s Ted Budd slides back to the right
For a brief time, it almost seemed like Rep. Ted Budd was trying to masquerade as some sort of moderate.
The Republican U.S. Senate candidate soared to a double-digit primary victory with the blessing of Donald Trump, but Budd hasn’t done much to publicly tether himself to the former president since. Budd has even updated his website to downplay Trump’s endorsement, which was once front and center on the homepage, The New York Times recently reported.
Don’t worry, though, because he’s still the same Ted Budd. He reminded us of that Wednesday when he announced he would appear alongside Trump at a rally in Wilmington next week, saying he was “thrilled” Trump was returning to North Carolina to “get folks fired up.”
It’s a curious strategy in a tightening race, especially since some Republicans have reportedly grown worried about Budd’s prospects. Budd’s lead has shrunk in recent months and his opponent, Cheri Beasley, has consistently dominated in fundraising.
Yet Budd only seems to be digging a deeper hole by cozying back up to Trump, who has acquired even more political baggage lately amid criminal investigations into his alleged mishandling of classified documents and attempts to overturn a legitimate election. A majority of American voters believe the investigations into Trump should continue, according to a recent NBC News poll. That includes 61% of independent voters — a group that is crucial for any candidate hoping to win a statewide race in North Carolina.
In fact, several GOP strategists recently expressed to Reuters that Budd may not be doing enough to win over unaffiliated voters, most of all women who have concerns about his position on abortion. Budd has previously hinted that he’d like to ban nearly all abortions, but like many other Republicans locked in competitive races, he’s mostly avoided the subject recently.
One Republican official told Reuters said that Budd needs to “get in front of” the abortion issue “or else it could really hurt.”
Budd did finally offer some clarity this week — though probably not the kind some Republicans had hoped — by co-sponsoring a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks. That bill, initially introduced in the Senate by Sen. Lindsey Graham, has frustrated many Republicans who fear it may be political self-sabotage.
Budd’s public support for the bill is a curious strategy, too, since most North Carolinians say they do not support further restrictions on abortion. Recent focus groups indicate that abortion rights may be the top issue for swing voters in the state, Axios Raleigh reported.
Notably, no one in those focus groups said they’d vote for Budd, and only a few were even able to name him after seeing his picture. That’s likely because up to this point, Budd has run a relatively quiet campaign. He has not held many public events — though he did appear at another Trump rally in Selma in April — and doesn’t often speak to the media. He declined to participate in debates during the primary, but has agreed to a televised debate with Beasley next month.
“The Democrats may say he’s hiding,” longtime Republican operative Paul Shumaker told the Charlotte Observer earlier this month. “I say he’s being smart in that he is most likely taking his campaign to those voters that matter most — he’s able to establish that dialogue.”
Perhaps the Budd campaign has concluded that the voters that matter most are those who have supported him all along. Neither Trump nor abortion bans are likely to persuade voters on the left or in the middle, but they will inevitably help mobilize Budd’s base. The question is whether that will be enough in a purple state like North Carolina — and in a political environment that has recently become less favorable to Republicans.
At the very least, the mask is off, and Budd is making it perfectly clear to voters who he is. Maybe we should thank him for that.
This story was originally published September 15, 2022 at 2:30 PM with the headline "As some Republicans move to the middle, NC’s Ted Budd slides back to the right."
