If Republicans hope to take the majority in the Senate, the North Carolina Senate race between Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Democrat Cheri Beasley is going to be a pivotal seat to retain, but the race is shaping up to be a close one.
Budd, who has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, is up just 2.5 percentage points in the latest Trafalgar Group Poll released Monday. That is inside the margin of error, ostensibly making the race a virtual tie.
Budd draws 47.6% support among likely North Carolina midterm voters, while Beasley checks in at 45.1%. Libertarian candidate Shannon Bray is polling at 2%, while 2.1% supported "other" and only 3.2% were undecided.
This makes this seat one of the key battlegrounds for the post-midterm Senate majority. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., is retiring, opening this seat up.
Trump made an early call to endorse Budd in the race back in June 2021 and also stumped for his candidate in an April Save America rally in Selma, North Carolina.
Lara Trump, the wife of Trump's middle son Eric Trump, had considered running for Senate in this seat before Trump put his support behind Budd.
The Trafalgar Group, which was been hailed as one of the most accurate pollsters for years because it has proved able to get to GOP voters other polls miss, surveyed 1,068 likely North Carolina midterm voters June 29-July 1. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.