(WASHINGTON) — Republican Rep. Ted Budd is projected to win the race for North Carolina’s Senate seat.
The race in swing state North Carolina is one of several that will determine which party holds control of Congress.
Going into Election Day, Budd was expected to win the race, based on a forecast by FiveThirtyEight. Most recent polling put him seven points ahead of his Democratic challenger and former state chief justice Cheri Beasley.
The Senate seat opened up after Sen. Richard Burr announced his retirement.
Budd, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, ran on combating crime, supporting law enforcement, securing the border, cutting taxes, restricting abortion and defunding Planned Parenthood. Budd is also a gun store owner who believes firearm confiscation is unconstitutional and believes in the right to carry across state lines.
Beasley promised to protect access to abortion, lower health care costs, expand access to health care, take on the climate change crisis and reform the criminal justice system.
Beasley was first appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court as an associate in 2012 and served as chief justice from 2019 to 2020. Budd was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2017.
North Carolina has recently leaned right, with Republicans succeeding in federal races during the last few cycles, including the last three presidential elections.
Former President Barack Obama won North Carolina by slim margins in 2008 and Kay Hagan, a Democrat, unseated an incumbent Republican senator that same year. But Obama did not win the state during his bid for reelection and Hagan lost her seat after just one term in office.
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