Following public pressure, Budd implies he will accept the 2022 election results
Following public pressure, U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, the Republican candidate for a North Carolina seat in the U.S. Senate, implied he would accept 2022 election results after initially having waffled on the subject.
In answer to questionnaires from the New York Times and the Washington Post published Sunday, Budd declined to comment on whether he’d accept the election results of his race against Democratic candidate Cheri Beasley. Budd and Beasley are vying for the seat of Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican who is retiring this year.
In a follow-up inquiry from The News & Observer Monday, Budd’s campaign equivocated. Samantha Cotten, Budd’s communications director, did not respond to questions about accepting the 2020 and 2022 election results but answered a separate question regarding unfounded allegations that Beasley might try to disenfranchise voters.
Following questions about the Times report at a Tuesday news conference in Durham, Budd said “this is pretty much a false narrative from the left,” WRAL reported.
“I mean, why wouldn’t I (accept the results)?” he said, according to WRAL.
The News & Observer followed up Tuesday regarding Budd’s new comments, asking him to clarify his stance and confirm he would accept the results. His campaign did not respond by end of business hours.
Representatives for Bo Hines, who is running in North Carolina’s competitive 13th Congressional District and is backed by former President Donald Trump, also did not respond when asked by The News & Observer editorial board if he would support the upcoming election’s results.
While Budd and Beasley are the main contenders to replace Burr, Green Party candidate Matthew Hoh and Libertarian Shannon Bray are also running.
This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Following public pressure, Budd implies he will accept the 2022 election results."
