Former President Donald Trump is backing Rep. Ted Budd for the Republican Senate nomination in North Carolina after his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, announced she won’t seek the open seat.
Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, made the announcement Saturday night as her father-in-law began his remarks at the North Carolina Republican Convention in Greenville. After pondering the race for months, Trump told the crowd she was “no for now” on running for office so she could focus on the couple’s two young children.
Lara Trump failed to dissuade other prominent North Carolina Republicans from jumping into the race to succeed GOP Sen. Richard Burr, who is retiring from Congress after 18 years in the Senate and 10 in the House. The North Carolina Senate race is crucial for Republicans to hold in 2022 in their bid to claim a majority in the chamber. The Senate currently now effectively has 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris casting tiebreaking votes.
On Saturday, the former president made his preference clear, endorsing Budd, a stalwart conservative and former gun store owner elected to the House in 2016.
“A lot of you don’t know him well,” Trump said, introducing Budd to the stage. “He will fight like hell. He will fight like nobody fights.”
Trump’s endorsement carries considerable weight in Republican primaries. Candidates for statewide office have schlepped to his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida to secure his backing. Trump is pondering a comeback bid in 2024 against Democratic President Joe Biden, and endorsements are one of his key forms of political capital.
And Trump’s backing of Budd leaves rival Senate Republican primary candidates out in the cold. That includes former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who was ousted in 2016 after one term, and ex-Rep. Mark Walker, who left the House after the 2020 elections when redistricting left him no viable political options for seeking reelection.
