Congressman Ted Budd Makes It Official, Releases First Ad ‘Liberal Crusher’ in Bid for US Senate

RALEIGH – As teased in the preceding couple of weeks, Congressman Ted Budd has jumped into the pool of the 2022 U.S. Senate Republican primary. He does so with an ad featuring puppies and monster trucks, as the Republican elected in 2016 tries to distinguish himself from a crowded field of big names.

WATCH:

Budd’s enters the race perhaps needing the roar of a monster truck to draw attention from the much higher profile candidate, former Governor Pat McCrory; the former congressman with a head start, Mark Walker; and, the ever sparkly speculation that Lara Trump could jump in the race.

His add was accompanied with a message to supporters:

“Ted Budd announced today that he is running for US Senate in 2022. Budd made the announcement via an AWESOME video featuring:

• monster trucks CRUSHING the Liberal agenda;
• marching bands BLASTING rock tunes;
• enough fireworks EXPLODING to win a small ground war;
• and a dog specially trained to woo swing voters (dogs do well in focus groups; but DOGS WEARING SUNGLASSES ARE OFF THE CHARTS WITH SWING VOTERS)!

To the consternation of his campaign aides, Ted shut all of that down because he doesn’t need a bunch of props to tell folks why he’s running for US Senate. Well, while discussing his Davie County values, Ted does use a drive-in movie screen as a prop but that’s only to showcase his family, his experience as a small businessman, and his conservative, America-First record helping President Donald Trump drain the swamp in Washington DC. […]

Ted Budd is a small businessman raised in Davie County where he and his wife, Amy Kate, live today with their three children and Boone, their dog. Ted was elected to Congress along with President Donald Trump in 2016 and has established a strong, conservative record supporting efforts to secure our borders and stand up for America-First policies that protect American jobs and increase opportunities for working men and women across North Carolina. Ted has spent his career as a small businessman and presently owns and operates a gun store and training center.”

When rumors of Budd’s interest in the race emerged, they came with correlated rumors that name ID enhancement for future races and insiders’ political calculus may have something to do with it than anything else.

Budd’s relatively conservative voting record will necessarily complete with any conservative base Mark Walker has been building. That dynamic is not necessarily the same when it comes to McCrory, who is presumed to be out front by a wide margin, absent a Lara Trump announcement.