Rep. Ted Budd, coming off his big win in North Carolina's primary election this week, told Newsmax Thursday that he thinks his win over former Gov. Pat McCrory and the remaining wide slate of Republicans seeking the GOP nod to succeed retiring Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., came because of a push to campaign in all 100 counties of the state.
"There are 100 counties in North Carolina, and we visited all 100 counties," the North Carolina Republican, whose candidacy was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
"Among all 14 Republicans, [I] was the only one that bothered to go to all 100 counties, and we won 99 out of 100 counties; in the one county we lost, Mecklenburg County where I had lived before, we lost that by around 70 votes, so we almost won 100 out of 100 counties being out there."
Ultimately, the Trump endorsement was "huge" as well, said Budd.
"It was June of last year when he came to the GOP convention in North Carolina and endorsed me," Budd said. "President Trump told me backstage, 'I'm endorsing you because you never wavered on America first policies.' I mean, these are the policies that led to record-low unemployment for women, for Hispanics, and people of color, and amazing workforce participation.
"We've got to get back to those things. But I think people realize that what I stand for is what works for the future."
Meanwhile, the main issue for North Carolina's voters is the border and the fentanyl that is being brought to the United States across it.
"I've [met with] sheriffs and 100 counties here in North Carolina," he said. "Many of those sheriffs have come and said to me, 'Every single county in North Carolina is now a border county because of what Joe Biden is doing down here at the border.'"
Voters are also worried about being able to put food on their tables, having baby formula to feed their children, and runaway gas prices and inflation, Budd added.
"These are self-inflicted wounds from the Biden administration that we as Republicans, as conservatives, know how to fix these things," Budd added. "You've just got to put enough of the right people in the right places and right now we've got the wrong people in the wrong places."
Budd will face Democrat nominee Cheri Beasley in November's general election, and he said he believes the way to do that is to "stick to our principles and talk about what's made our country great."
"The America first principles aren't just for Republicans," he said. "These are things that work for everybody. We're going to be reaching out to not only 100% of Republicans, no matter their style of being a Republican and conservative, we're going to reach out to unaffiliated [voters].
"We're going to reach out to the Democrats who realize that much of their party has become radicalized and left them. And look, you can turn off Twitter, but you can't turn off a bad economy, so we're going to let people know that we can make their lives better."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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