In NC Senate race, GOP's Budd steps up public appearances to tout law enforcement support

U.S. Rep. Ted Budd pitched himself Friday as the law-and-order candidate in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race, leveraging a high-profile endorsement in a visit to Raleigh.

He also did something he hasn’t done often in this race: Stand at a podium and take questions from reporters.

With less than three months to go before election day, Budd and Democratic nominee Cheri Beasley—a former state Supreme Court chief justice—are moving around the state, trying to distinguish themselves to voters. Budd’s operation has been criticized for a lack of press events, something the campaign addressed this week with waggish flair.

“Some of you reporter types complain you don’t hear from us enough, so, say goodbye to your email inbox, but say hello to the Ted Budd for US Senate Law Enforcement Tour,” the campaign said in an email promoting multiple meetings this weekend with law enforcement across the state.

Beasley plans to be in Raleigh this weekend at a school supply giveaway on the city’s south side. Her campaign said she wasn’t available Friday for an interview, but touted her own law enforcement bona fides by offering Durham Sheriff Clarence Birkhead, a fellow Democrat, as a surrogate.

"We need someone with the record that Cheri Beasley has," Birkhead said Friday. "She's worked for over two decades in this space a as judge, a public defender, and as a Supreme Court justice. And she's always stood by and supported law enforcement."

Budd was joined at his Raleigh campaign office by former U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon; former Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison, a Republican running for sheriff this year against Democrat Willie Rowe; and Bill Grey, a former head of the N.C. State Highway Patrol who is now a public safety consultant.

“I try to do my homework,” Harrison said. “I look at the people I think’s going to work. … I know he’s the man who’s going to support law enforcement.”

Budd announced an endorsement this week from the North Carolina Troopers Association, a group of current and retired state troopers. The association tends to support Republicans, and it did so in North Carolina’s 2020 U.S. Senate race as well, picking incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis over Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, a former federal and military prosecutor.

During Friday’s press conference, Budd called the FBI search at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort “absolutely unprecedented,” and he said he wants to see “full transparency” from the FBI, including release not just of the search warrant but the affidavit behind it. He called for more border security spending, and he took shots at Beasley’s record on law enforcement issues.

“Now is the time for elected officials to express their full and complete support for law enforcement,” Budd said. “We need to fund them, we need to back them and we need to push back against false narratives.”

A handful of protesters from the N.C. Democratic Party stood outside Budd’s event with posters questioning his record. The state party sent out a news release ticking off a series of congressional votes against bills the party said would have put billions toward law enforcement.

Democrats also said Budd’s press conference amounted to him “coming out of hiding.”

“The thing that surprises me isn’t necessarily the troopers’ association endorsement, but the fact of Budd taking media questions,” Catawba College political scientist Michael Bitzer said Friday. “The sense I have gotten from his primary campaign and his general campaign so far is very much modeled on other GOP strategies: Stay off mainstream media and instead focus on friendly news outlets and keep the public appearances to small gatherings of friendlies as well. Taking questions is really a departure at this point.”

Whether he and Beasley will debate remains an open question. Beasley’s campaign has said it’s willing. Budd’s campaign said it will likely go through the various invitations near the end of this month and make a decision. Budd himself said Friday that he’s “certainly open” to debating.

Election day is Nov. 8, but voting starts well before that. Mail-in ballots will be available Sept. 9, and early voting in-person begins Oct. 20.