NC: Ted Budd (R)

REPLACING:

Richard Burr (R)[i]

WORK HISTORY:

US House of Representatives (Representative, NC-13); ProShots Indoor Range & Training (Owner / Chief Executive Officer); AgriTiva LLC (Partner); Green Resource (Employee); Budd Group, Inc. (Executive Vice President)[ii] [iii] [iv]

EDUCATION:

Attended, Summit School; Diploma, Davie County High School; BS, Appalachian State University; MA, Dallas Theological Seminary; MBA, Wake Forest University[v] [vi]

CAMPAIGNED ON:

Creating Jobs & Stopping Socialism; Securing the Border; Standing with Law Enforcement; Cutting Taxes, Waste & Red Tape; Protecting Sanctity of Life; Defending the Second Amendment; Safeguarding Elections; Empowering Parents in Education; Eliminating Big Tech Corruption[vii]

ON THE ISSUES

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS:

Budd is pro-life and believes life begins at conception. He supports the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits using tax dollars to pay for abortion.[viii] Budd cosponsored the House version of the national 15-week abortion ban introduced by US Senator Lindsey Graham in 2022.[ix] He has also reportedly hinted that he does not support abortion in cases of rape or incest.[x] In 2017, he voted for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion & Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act.[xi] Budd also sponsored legislation that would ban a procedure used in “born-alive abortions” and voted for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would restrict late-term abortions.[xii] [xiii] In the Senate, Budd will work to prohibit “dangerous mail-order, do-it-yourself abortions” and to defund Planned Parenthood.[xiv] He has been endorsed by both National Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony List.[xv] [xvi]

ECONOMY, JOBS & TAXES:

Budd has blamed President Biden’s “reckless agenda” for rising inflation and thinks the national debt is “unsustainable and unacceptable.”[xvii] He supports cutting taxes for the middle class and championed the Trump tax cuts.[xviii] [xix] He has also called for eliminating “job-killing” red tape.[xx] He has claimed to be one of the “loudest voices” against pork barrel earmarks, which he argues are the “gateway drug for overspending.”[xxi] He opposed the Biden administration’s Build Back Better agenda and voted against the Inflation Reduction Act.[xxii] [xxiii]

HEALTHCARE & SOCIAL SAFETY NET:

Budd believes every American “should have access to the healthcare that works best for them,” which means providing more choices, more pricing transparency, more competition, and more affordable health insurance plans.[xxiv] He opposed the ACA and voted to repeal the law and replace it with the AHCA in 2017.[xxv] Budd has pledged to fight any healthcare plan that puts decision-making “in the hands of Washington bureaucrats instead of your doctor.”[xxvi] He opposes Medicare for All.[xxvii] He has said Social Security “must be preserved for current and future retirees” and introduced a bill that would prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving Social Security benefits.[xxviii]

IMMIGRATION & BORDER SECURITY:

Budd argues that before any other action is taken, the US must secure its southern border.[xxix] He believes the Biden administration’s “open border policies” have had a “devastating” effect on security and have led to an increase in human trafficking and opioid abuse.[xxx] In Congress, he supported President Trump’s efforts to build the wall and increase resources available to border agents.[xxxi] He has been endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council.[xxxii] He wants to ban sanctuary cities and end chain migration, and will continue to fight for Kate’s Law, which would increase criminal penalties for undocumented immigrants who re-enter the US illegally. Budd also supports the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act, which would allow victims of any felony committed by undocumented immigrants and their families to sue the state or local government “for their failure to comply with federal law.”[xxxiii] [xxxiv]

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY:

Budd has accused the Left of trying to abolish police departments across the country and has pledged to resist any effort to “weaken the Thin Blue Line.”[xxxv] While serving in Congress, Budd wrote the Community Policing Act, which established a grant program for local police departments focused on increasing de-escalation training and community outreach programs to strengthen the relationship between police officers and citizens.[xxxvi] [xxxvii] He also introduced the No Tolerance for Rioters Act, which would double federal penalties associated with rioting, looting, and other acts of violence against individuals or property.[xxxviii] [xxxix]

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS & ELECTION SECURITY:

Budd believes it should be “easy to vote, but hard to cheat,” and has supported claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.[xl] [xli] In the weeks after the election, Budd criticized the “unelected bureaucrats changing election procedures” and voted to block certification.[xlii] [xliii] In the Senate, Budd will support legislation that “protects the sanctity of one person, one vote,” including requiring verified reporting of certified mail-in ballots, prohibiting wealthy Americans from privately funding local election offices, implementing voter ID laws, allowing state election officials to verify a voter’s citizenship, and requiring states to purge deceased individuals from voter rolls.[xliv] Budd opposes the For the People Act, which he claims would eliminate voter ID, allow felons and minors to vote, and expand “no excuse” absentee voting.[xlv] He will also oppose “activist” judges and any court-packing attempts to expand the US Supreme Court.[xlvi] Notably, Budd’s campaign initially refused to say whether he would accept the results of the 2022 election, but he has since said he would.[xlvii] [xlviii] [xlix]

EDUCATION:

Budd supports providing parents with more choices when it comes to their children’s education and is a proponent of homeschooling.[l] He claims Democrats want the government in charge of every child’s education with zero oversight of the curriculum.[li] Budd opposes the teaching of “anti-American ideologies” like Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project. To fight back against “woke indoctrination,” Budd introduced the Preserve American History Act, which would codify the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission to teach the “greatness and exceptionalism” of the US in schools.[lii] [liii] He also sponsored the No CRT Act, which would allow parents to remove children from school systems that teach anti-American curriculum.[liv] Budd opposed the Biden administration’s move to forgive some student loan debt, calling it an “affront to the millions of borrowers who responsibility repaid their loan balances” and a “wealth transfer” that is a “backdoor way of cancelling federal loans.”[lv] [lvi] [lvii]

CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT:

Budd supports an “all of the above” energy strategy that embraces all natural resources and argues that the federal government should not be picking and choosing which energy sources get advantages.[lviii] Budd opposes the Green New Deal, calling it part of the “costly socialist agenda” being put forth by “radical progressives” that would “break the free market system and eliminate the American Dream.”[lix] In December 2021, Budd introduced a bill that would prevent President Biden from releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the executive orders blocking energy development on federal land are revoked.[lx]

BIG TECH & DATA PRIVACY:

Budd believes political censorship by Big Tech companies is “out of control” and has accused “Silicon Valley liberals” of using their power to unfairly sway elections while “pretending to be neutral.”[lxi] He argues that Facebook, Twitter, and Google should not receive special Section 230 protections if they silence conservative voices.[lxii] In Congress, Budd introduced a bill that would prohibit Big Tech companies from receiving Section 230 protections unless they changed their terms of service and would allow people to sue companies who breach good faith user agreements, censor political speech, and suppress content.”[lxiii] In 2022, he voted for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, an antitrust package that would crackdown on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.[lxiv] [lxv] [lxvi]

GUN SAFETY:

Budd has pledged to “never waver” in his defense of Second Amendment rights and is “tired of politicians treating law-abiding gun owners like criminals.”[lxvii] He supports Constitutional Carry and was an original cosponsor of the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act.[lxviii] [lxix] He has also supported Second Amendment sanctuary cities, where local officials said they would not uphold federal gun safety laws that they claim violate the Constitution.[lxx] Budd opposes universal background checks and red flag laws, and he voted against the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in June 2022.[lxxi] [lxxii] [lxxiii] [lxxiv] [lxxv] He argues that the “radical ATF should focus less on enacting gun confiscation schemes and must focus more on catching criminals.”[lxxvi] Notably, Budd owns and operates a shooting-sports retail store and indoor gun range.[lxxvii] He is a trained Range Safety Officer and a lifetime member of the NRA, which gave him an “A” rating in 2022.[lxxviii] [lxxix] [lxxx] He has been endorsed by Gun Owners of America and is a member of Grass Roots NC, North Carolina’s only “no-compromise” gun rights organization.”[lxxxi] [lxxxii]

FOREIGN POLICY:

Budd has said China is “not a force for good in the world” and has criticized President Biden for “coddling” the Chinese Communist Party.[lxxxiii] He believes free trade must also be fair trade and argues the US should be enforcing tougher standards on countries like China that “routinely use international trade to take economic advantage of our workers.”[lxxxiv] He also believes that American colleges and universities have become a “breeding ground for Chinese foreign espionage.”[lxxxv] He cosponsored the INFLUENCE Act, which would help ensure foreign nationals cannot steal intellectual property from institutes of higher learning.[lxxxvi] In July 2020, Budd criticized China’s policy towards Hong Kong.[lxxxvii] He supports the US providing “lethal aid” to help Ukraine in its conflict with Russia and has called for imposing stronger trade restrictions to “further stifle Putin’s ability to project power and pay for his unjust war.”[lxxxviii] In March 2022, he introduced the Stop China’s Financing of Russia’s Invasion Act, which would promise retaliatory tariffs on Chinese agriculture goods if China increased its purchase of Russian agriculture products.[lxxxix] He also supported the Suspending Energy Imports From Russia Act and sponsored the Prohibition on Imports of Russian Oil Act.[xc] [xci] Notably, Budd is one of several members of Congress that have been sanctioned by the Russian government.[xcii]