(PatrioticPost.com)- A Republican Senate candidate that former President Donald Trump has backed has finally emerged as the front-runner in what is proving to be a contentious primary for a seat on the Senate from North Carolina.
Polls that were released last week show that current North Carolina Representative Ted Budd has built a commanding lead over his GOP primary rivals for a seat on the Senate from the state. It was welcome news for Trump, who saw his endorsed candidate struggle in polling early on.
The GOP primary in North Carolina will be held on May 17, and it could go a long way in determining whether the many candidates Trump has endorsed across the country are ultimately going to be successful in their bids for political seats.
Trump’s endorsement has been long sought after by Republican candidates across the country, though the support of the former president hasn’t been put to the official test at the polls just yet.
The former president appeared at a rally in North Carolina on Saturday, where he spoke very highly of Budd. He said:
“I’m very proud of that man. Not an easy thing to do, what he’s doing, and he did it so well. And we gotta get out there to vote. Make sure you’re voting.”
Speaking to the crowd of supporters, Trump said that Budd was “by far the best candidate in the race.”
But, it was only recently that Budd emerged as the leader among the GOP candidates for the Senate seat in North Carolina. Not surprisingly, his move up the polls coincided with a massive ad spend from the conservative super PAC known as Club for Growth.
The super PAC has dumped $15 million just into the Republican primary in North Carolina to support Budd’s bid. In addition to that ad spend and the endorsement from Trump, Budd has also received the support of another well-respected conservative in the state, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson.
Speaking at the rally, Robinson said:
“Our party needs to come together. We need to join together and make sure that we can send a strong, principled conservative candidate to Washington — that we can push him through this primary and blast him past his Democratic opponent in the general election.”
The support from Robinson was very much welcomed by Budd, especially since it was only a few weeks ago that the lieutenant governor was traveling with and praising one of his opponents in the GOP primary, Mark Walker.
Walker formerly served in Congress. And despite Trump and some of his allies urging him to drop out of the race, he has remained in it.
On Sunday, Walker issued a statement to Politico that said he has been “offered several deals this past week to get out of the Senate race,” if he were to show up at the rally to support Budd.
He wouldn’t expand on the deal that he was offered, only saying:
“I didn’t play this game in D.C., and I won’t do it now, thus, declining their offer.”
