North Carolina U.S. Sen. Ted Budd endorses Trump for 2024

Senator Ted Budd, one of North Carolina’s two U.S. senators, endorsed fellow Republican Donald Trump for president in 2024 on Thursday.

“Under President Trump, our economy saw record-setting growth, and families were starting to get ahead,” Budd wrote in a press release announcing the endorsement. “Neighborhoods were safer. Across the globe, we were achieving peace. We were respected by allies and feared by enemies.”

Trump lost the 2020 election to Democratic President Joe Biden and alienated some fellow Republican politicians when his supporters attacked Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the election results and keep Trump in power.

The former president is now facing multiple criminal investigations related to his presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020, as well as his handling of classified documents after he left office — including a case in New York that, in March, led to him becoming the first-ever former president to be charged with a crime.

The uncertainty over his criminal investigations, along with the potentially crowded GOP field in 2024, has made some Republican politicians hold off on making an endorsement. In addition to Trump, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson are among those already in the running, and many expect to also see South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and ex-Trump Vice President Mike Pence enter the race.

Of the 49 Republican senators, Budd appears to be only the seventh one to endorse Trump. Budd and the others are all freshmen senators except for one, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, Business Insider reported earlier this week.

Similarly, of the 222 Republican members of the U.S. House, Business Insider reported that only 40 have so far endorsed Trump. They include figures like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson.

Budd’s endorsement is somewhat of a return favor, since Trump endorsed Budd in the leadup to last year’s Senate race — allowing the relatively obscure Congressman to then attract millions of dollars in support from national conservative groups, vaulting to victory over former Gov. Pat McCrory former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker in the GOP primary.

“Hardworking, everyday families need a return of the America First agenda to restore prosperity and peace,” Budd wrote.