NC Republican Senate hopefuls focus on Ted Budd’s absence from debate stage

Three Republicans running to represent North Carolina in the U.S. Senate focused much of their attention during a debate Wednesday night on the one opponent who has skipped each of the three televised GOP debates that have been held this year.

Former Gov. Pat McCrory, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker and military veteran Marjorie Eastman each had harsh, pointed and frequent criticism for U.S. Rep. Ted Budd as they responded to questions during the hourlong debate, which was moderated by Tim Boyum, a political reporter at Spectrum News.

A couple of polls released this month have shown Budd taking a sizable lead over McCrory. And Budd has new endorsements from high-profile Republicans in the state, including Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and Phil Berger, the highest-ranking Republican in the GOP-controlled state Senate. But McCrory, who mostly led in the polls before Budd took a lead, challenged the notion that Budd was a stronger candidate.

“Ted Budd is so dependent on endorsements because he has no record to run on,” McCrory said. “And when you’re so dependent upon endorsements, as Congressman Budd is, you’re going to be a weak general election candidate. And a weak general election candidate is the last thing North Carolina and our country needs right now, when we have a 50-50 tie in the U.S. Senate.”

Eastman, who served two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, said she learned from her time in the military that “leaders show up” and that Budd’s decision not to debate the other GOP candidates “says a lot.”

“And as far as endorsements, I’ll say this, I think North Carolina is tired of people telling them what to do,” Eastman said.

A poll released by Emerson College and The Hill on April 5 showed Budd leading McCrory by 16 percentage points; another poll conducted by WRAL about a week later showed Budd with a 10-point lead over McCrory.

And Budd’s biggest endorser in GOP politics, former President Donald Trump, visited North Carolina earlier this month to urge supporters to vote for the three-term congressman in the primary, which is on May 17.

Walker, a former pastor who also served three terms in Congress before opting not to run for reelection in 2020, said he was proud to have the support of local sheriffs and prominent Republicans who “know me best” like Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, and Tim Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina. He also criticized Budd for skipping the debate.

“If Mr. Budd doesn’t have the courage to face Republican candidates, how the heck is he going to go against Chuck Schumer and Cheri Beasley?” Walker asked.

Jonathan Felts, a senior adviser to Budd’s campaign, said in a text message after the debate that Budd is focused on completing a tour of North Carolina’s 100 counties ahead of the primary, and said that Budd traveled to Montgomery, Richmond, Scotland and Hoke counties on Wednesday to meet with voters and talk to them about economic development and agriculture.

Inflation and forgiving student loan debt

In addition to Budd, the other frequent target of criticism during the debate was Democratic President Joe Biden, who visited Greensboro last week to talk about a range of economic issues including job growth in the manufacturing sector and inflation.

While answering a question about what federal lawmakers could do to alleviate the economic burden of inflation, Eastman said Congress needs to pass a balanced budget, and blamed the Biden administration for “reckless spending,” which she said needed to be reined in.

Walker said it wouldn’t be possible to do anything about inflation while Democrats retain control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, and pointed to his efforts to pass a constitutional amendment in 2018 prohibiting lawmakers from spending more than is collected in revenues unless three-fifths of the House and Senate approve it.

The measure ultimately failed to win enough GOP support, and Walker said it showed that “part of the problem in the Republican Party is that we don’t hold our own accountable.”

McCrory, meanwhile, criticized the Biden administration for moving to expand student loan forgiveness for millions of people. Many borrowers and Democrats have urged Biden to go farther and wipe out all or a portion of student debt beyond the program involved in that move.

“It’s not fair to other college students who have paid their debt, and it’s not fair to people who didn’t go to college; they shouldn’t have to pay for your debt,” McCrory said. “Free is not free. It just means you’re passing the payments to primarily the middle class and the poor.”

Walker said he was in favor of programs that forgive at least some student loan debt for military service members and teachers, but said that it was only fair that everyone else pay the money they borrowed, including his wife, who he said is currently paying the last few payments for a master’s degree from Winston-Salem State University.

Criticism of Biden’s response to Russian invasion

On the issue of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is nearing the two-month mark, McCrory tried to draw a connection between Budd and Biden by criticizing them for making “irresponsible” statements about the war. Specifically, McCrory cited comments made by Budd in late February, when he called Putin “evil” and an ‘international thug” while also calling him a “very intelligent actor.”

“(Budd) also said (Putin) was evil to be fair, but anyone who bombs hospitals and kills children and ties people up and assassinates them and invades a separate country is not smart,” McCrory said.

McCrory also pointed to comments made by Biden in January, when he said that the United States would hold Russia accountable if it invaded Ukraine, but said there would likely be disagreement among NATO members on how to respond if Russia engaged in military action that fell short of a full-blown invasion, which Biden referred to as a “minor incursion.” The statement elicited pushback from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and was quickly clarified by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who said any Russian aggression would be met with “a decisive, reciprocal, and united response,” according to NPR.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we had a leader in the federal government, in Washington, D.C., like Zelenskyy? Joe Biden is no Zelenskyy, that’s for sure,” McCrory said. “In fact, Joe Biden is showing weakness right now, he’s showing weakness by telling Putin what he’s not going to do versus what he is going to do.”

Walker also criticized Biden and said he believed the United States should send Ukraine lethal aid, but not deploy its own troops to help the war-torn country. Eastman praised NATO members for coming together to support Ukraine, and said Ukrainians had reminded Americans that “the ordinary citizen is a true hero of democracy.”

Trump’s border wall, immigration

When asked what Congress should do about the southern border with Mexico, all three candidates said Congress should enable the completion of a border wall that Trump made a signature issue during his 2016 presidential campaign.

“We need to have an immigration system in the United States, across the world, that’s free of the bureaucracy that’s holding up much of the immigration throughout the world that can’t come to the United States but legally,” McCrory said. “But you’ve got to stop the illegal immigration first.”

Eastman said that in addition to finishing the wall, officials should be using advanced technologies to secure the border. She pointed to unattended ground sensors the U.S. military used while she was serving in Afghanistan as an example.

Walker said he visited the border and was told by officials that the number of countries from which people had been apprehended trying to illegally enter the United States had tripled, and said he supported having people come live in the U.S. by following proper immigration pathways.

“We’ve taken about a million legal immigrants that have come the right way, that follow the law, that raise their right hand, they become as much American as you and I are,” Walker said. “We want to protect that, we want to be the country of immigrants.”

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.

This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 11:46 AM.

Avi Bajpai

The News & Observer

919-346-4817

Avi Bajpai is a state politics reporter for The News & Observer. He previously covered breaking news and public safety. Contact him at abajpai@newsobserver.com or (919) 346-4817.