One of these candidates will be NC’s next senator. Learn more about them here.
North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race has been labeled as “sleepy,” but doing so understates the enormity of the decision ahead of the state’s voters in just a few weeks.
Republican Sen. Richard Burr didn’t run for a fourth term. That left his seat open for two candidates with polar opposite views to vie for the position.
Rep. Ted Budd, a Republican, is backed by former President Donald Trump and ultra-conservative political action committee Club for Growth. He voted to overturn the election of President Joe Biden.
Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, a Democrat, spent more than two decades in the judicial system, wants to codify Roe v. Wade into law and would be the first Black senator elected from North Carolina.
Libertarian and Green party candidates are also running.
Democrats desperately want to hold onto their control of the Senate. They currently have the slimmest possible majority with the help of the vice president.
Neither Budd nor Beasley have been able to separate themselves as a front-runner in the race in any polling, and North Carolina’s largest voting pool is the unaffiliated, meaning this election could go to either candidate and every vote could count.
To learn more about the top candidates, read our profiles:
We asked all of the candidates to answer a series of questions about their backgrounds and positions. (Budd did not return our questionnaire). Check out their responses here:
This story was originally published October 16, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
