Free Republic

Budd’s focus on Trump’s issue strengths, particularly the economy and America’s place on the world stage, show a push from Trump and his allies towards eyeing the general election in November 2024, in large part because party leaders and officials have begun coalescing behind Trump in recent weeks as he shows stronger and stronger numbers in public polling both nationally and in key states, both in the primary and in the general.Budd joins several key Senate colleagues like Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in formally...

The Securities and Exchange Commission was seeking information from collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX earlier this year, the Prospect has confirmed, bringing a new perspective to an effort by a bipartisan group of congressmembers to slow down that investigation. The March letter from eight House members—four Democrats and four Republicans—questioned the SEC’s authority to make informal inquiries to crypto and blockchain companies, and intimated that the requests violated federal law. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), whom the Republican caucus just elected as majority whip, the number three position in the House GOP leadership, led the letter. In a contemporaneous Twitter thread, Emmer...

Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) is expanding his lead weeks out from the North Carolina U.S. Senate race, with a second poll this week showing him ahead of Democrat Cheri Beasley outside of a survey’s margin of error. A poll released on Wednesday by Trafalgar Group shows Budd with 48.4 percent support compared to Beasley’s 44.2 percent. The poll was conducted between Oct. 16 – 19 with 1081 likely general election voters, and the margin of error is ± 2.9 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

Democratic North Carolina Senate nominee Cheri Beasley leads her Republican opponent, Ted Budd, by 1 percentage point, according to a new Civiqs poll. The survey, which was released on Thursday, found 49 percent of likely voters in the state indicated support for Beasley, compared to 48 percent for Budd, a gap well within the margin of error.

Pat McCrory’s campaign did not expect to win. So instead of renting a hotel ballroom, their campaign event was at Selwyn Pub, a few blocks from his home in Myers Park. There were about 50 people there. They heard McCrory say he doesn’t know if he has a place in the Republican Party anymore. “Now I have to do some real self-evaluation of where I belong. And not only me, it’s where these people belong in our party,” McCrory, gesturing to his well-wishers. “I want to make sure we maintain a sense of civility, a sense of character and accomplishment.”...

As former President Donald Trump heads to North Carolina Saturday to campaign for Republican candidates he's endorsed in the southeastern state—a video of one of those GOP lawmakers saying President Joe Biden is the "legitimate" president has resurfaced.

Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said on "Fox & Friends First" Friday that President Biden's economic and energy policies are driving up costs for American families, reacting to the Biden administration blaming high oil and gas prices on Russian leader Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. FORMER OBAMA ADVISER: DON'T BLAME RUSSIA, BLAME BIDEN FOR INFLATION RATES REP. TED BUDD: You can see what his actions are, and he is hurting the American people. Anything that we get in the grocery store or anything that we eat, anything that you purchase always comes by truck. That's the way the American economy works....

New campaign filings show North Carolina U.S. Rep. Ted Budd brought in more money during the final three months of 2021 than his opponents in his bid for the Republican Party’s U.S. Senate nomination. It’s the first time since both candidates entered the race in April that Budd has reported raising more money than former Gov. Pat McCrory, his top competitor. Budd’s campaign on Monday reported raising more than $968,000 during the period ending Dec. 31, according to a Federal Election Commission filing. McCrory took in more than $748,000. Campaign finance filings are an indicator of a candidate’s strength and...

Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) has a four-point edge over former Gov. Pat McCrory (R) in the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, according to a poll published Wednesday by the conservative Club for Growth PAC. The poll, conducted by WPA Intelligence December 19–21, found Budd at 47 percent support compared to McCrory’s 43 percent support in a hypothetical head-to-head primary matchup. Ten percent said they were undecided. Club for Growth has endorsed Budd, as has former President Donald Trump. The influential group with close ties to the former president has backed a handful of candidates ahead of...

It doesn't get any better in the U.S. Senate race where former party state chair Jane Timken, perennial right-wing candidate Josh Mandel and author J.D. Vance are fighting over who is the most Trumpian. Ohio State Sen. Matt Dolan jumped into the race, giving the anti-Trump forces an outside shot if the others split their vote. It'll be interesting to see if retiring Sen. Rob Portman — who didn't stand up to Trump for four years — will show political courage now that he’s not facing voters. It’s not much better in neighboring Pennsylvania, where the leading Republican U.S. Senate...

The count is now at 46 times over the last month. That’s how many times Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues in the House have blocked a request from Republicans on the House floor to have a vote on a bill to ban taxpayer-funding of abortions. Eight members of the House asked for a vote on the pro-life bill yesterday and each of them were denied the request by Pelosi and Democrats in the chair at her behest. Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-NY), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Rep. John Rose (R-TN), Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC),...

North Carolina Representative Ted Budd’s fundraising numbers for his Senate campaign gave him a last-minute cash boost in the Republican primary, after former President Donald Trump endorsed him last month. EQV Analytics, a Democratic research firm, found that Mr Budd began [outraising] his opponents after Trump endorsed him at a state party convention in June, praising him as someone who would “fight like hell." According to his most recent Federal Election Commission filing, nearly 70 percent of the $950,000 raised by Mr. [Budd] came [after] the former president endorsed [Budd], who was first elected to Congress in 2016. *** Bill...

Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) announced Wednesday he will run for U.S. Senate in North Carolina to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC). Budd, a gun store owner from Davie County, released a video of the announcement that detailed his positions on issues and prominently featured him campaigning alongside former President Donald Trump.

The time is short - please list here candidates who are worthy of our last minute support - financial if at all possible. I will start: Dean Heller for Senate from Nevada: https://www.deanheller.com/ Corey Stewart for Senate in VA: (against the vile Tim Kaine) https://www.coreystewart.com/home Ted Budd for Congress in NC: Incumbent Repub against highly financed Dem. Lawyer. https://tedbudd.com/

The husband of an Ohio schoolteacher, who was severely injured when four men dropped a rock on her car from a highway overpass, killed himself late Saturday night – and the prosecutor who jailed the rock-throwers blames them for Randy Budd’s suicide. Budd, 55, was pronounced dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his Ohio residence, Harry Campbell, chief investigator for Ohio’s Stark County Coroner’s office, told the AP on Sunday. “Randy Budd did not die from a gunshot,” Union County District Attorney D. Peter Johnson told pennlive.com. “He died when those kids threw a rock through his windshield.”

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "Bout and American-born pal Richard Chichakli were accused of creating a new business, Samar Airlines, which they thought was clean of any connection to their own bloody dealings. Starting in the summer of 2007, Samar Airlines started making deals for airplanes and crews to ferry contraband between the United States and Tajikistan, the indictment said." SNIPPET: "The Russian-born Bout is accused of wiring $1.7 million from bank accounts in Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Russia through banks in New York City and Salt Lake City to finance the scheme." SNIPPET: "Bout, who is accused of supplying weapons to real...