Ted Budd, who has represented North Carolina in the U.S. House since 2017, will join the Senate to succeed Richard Burr, a fellow Republican who is retiring after three terms.
With 95% of the vote counted, Budd had 50.7% to Democrat Cheri Beasley’s 47.1%.
A Trump-endorsed candidate, Budd, 51, has championed spending cuts as a member of the House Freedom Caucus and called lawmakers’ pork barrel projects an “extravagant waste of taxpayer dollars.”
Currently representing North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District, Budd advocates strong border security and supported legislation to increase penalties for illegal immigrants who reenter the country after being expelled.
Budd defeated former Gov. Pat McCrory and Rep. Mark Walker in the GOP primary and went on to face Beasley, former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Born on a family farm in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he still lives, Budd received a business degree from Appalachia State University. He also holds master’s degrees from Wake Forest University and Dallas Theological Seminary.
He owns a gun store in Rural Hall, North Carolina, and has been vocal about his disdain for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ “enacting gun confiscation schemes” rather than focusing on criminals.
Ken McIntyre contributed to this report.
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