Senate candidate Ted Budd declines to say if he’ll accept 2022 election results

Kaitlin McKeown/kmckeown@newsobserver.com

U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, the Republican candidate for a North Carolina seat in the U.S. Senate, declined to say whether he would accept this year’s election results in response to questions from the New York Times, Washington Post and, in follow-up inquiries, from The News & Observer.

The Times reported that Budd, along with fellow Trump-backed Republican nominees Blake Masters in Arizona, Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska and J.D. Vance in Ohio, declined to commit to accepting the 2022 results.

The Post said it asked candidates “whether they will accept the results of their contests,” listing Budd in the category of “no/did not respond,” and his Democratic opponent, Cheri Beasley, in the “yes” category. The Times reported that Budd’s campaign declined to commit to accepting results and also made a claim, without evidence, that Beasley might try to disenfranchise voters.

Budd and Beasley are vying for the seat of Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican who is retiring this year.

The N&O asked Budd’s campaign Monday if he would accept the 2022 results, whether Budd believed the 2020 election was legitimate and what backed up the allegation about Beasley.

Samantha Cotten, communications director for the Budd campaign, did not respond to the questions about accepting the 2020 and 2022 election results. Budd voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election in Congress, hours after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Cotten responded to the question about the campaign’s allegations against Beasley by sharing links to news articles, including ones regarding a Democratic-aligned law firm’s submission of complaints seeking to have the State Board of Elections keep Green Party candidates off the ballot. Following a federal judge’s ruling, Senate candidate Matthew Hoh will be on the ballot for the Green Party along with Beasley, Budd and Libertarian Shannon Bray.

The Elias Law Group followed legal mechanisms for its complaints. Beasley was not involved in the law firm’s complaints to the elections board.

Following media coverage and scrutiny over his lack of comment on whether he’d accept the 2022 results, Budd implied during a news conference in Durham Tuesday that he would accept the results, saying “this is pretty much a false narrative from the left,” as reported by WRAL.

“I mean, why wouldn’t I (accept the results)?,” he said, according to WRAL.

Trump rallying on behalf of Budd

Beasley spokesperson Kelci Hobson told The N&O that Budd “has made a career out of subverting our democracy, from refusing to accept election results in 2020 and 2022 to calling the January 6th insurrection ‘just patriots standing up’ to opposing legislation to secure our constitutional right to vote. That’s dangerous and wrong for North Carolina.”

Budd made the comment on “patriots standing up” on a show in which he also said “it was a bad day for America,” the Charlotte Observer reported, and an adviser told the Observer that Budd “has repeatedly condemned the January 6 rioters and supported a full law enforcement investigation.”

Former President Donald Trump will hold a rally Friday in Wilmington on behalf of Budd.

At this event, Budd will be talking about inflation and how it’s “crushing the budgets of working families across NC” as well as speaking to votes on how he will “make life better for North Carolinians by cutting reckless spending, securing our border, and getting our economy back on track with common sense policies,” Cotten said.

Bo Hines, the GOP candidate for U.S. House in the 13th Congressional District, will also be attending that rally, according to an adviser.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at https://campsite.bio/underthedome or wherever you get your podcasts.

Advertisement