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Ted Budd

Republican. North Carolina’s Senate seat, on the ballot November 7, 2028.

Age on Election Day 2028
57
On November 7, 2028. Born October 21, 1971.
Lean
R+1
Statewide, 2025 Cook PVI.
In the Senate since
2023
Took office January 3, 2023.7
Approval
38%
35% disapprove. Morning Consult.3

Overview

Cash on hand
$728,189
Federal Election Commission, October quarterly report11

Last election
50.5%
Share of the vote.10

The state in 2024
Trump won North Carolina in 2024.
Earlier offices
  • U.S. House, NC-13, 2017 to 2023
2028 plans
Moved chief of staff Tucker Knott to his political operation to focus on his 2028 reelection campaign. Source: The News & Observer, via The Daily Reflector (opens in a new tab), December 3, 2025.

Lean is the state’s 2025 Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI): R+5 to R+9 is lean Republican, R+10 and up solidly Republican, and D+ leans Democratic. Approval is the latest published Morning Consult rating, from its quarterly survey of registered voters in each state. Last election is the share of the vote the senator won. Cash on hand is the campaign’s money at the end of the reporting period named.

Sources (7)
  1. 1Ted Budd, official page Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  2. 22025 Cook PVI, state list (Cook Political Report), checked against the 2020 and 2024 presidential results Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  3. 3Morning Consult, approval, April 1 to June 30, 2026 Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  4. 4The News & Observer, via The Daily Reflector, December 3, 2025 Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  5. 5Senate committee assignments, senate.gov Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  6. 6Senate leadership, senate.gov Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  7. 7Senators by date of first service, senate.gov Open the source (opens in a new tab)

In the Senate

In the Senate since
January 3, 2023
Leadership posts
No leadership post
Committees
  • Armed Services
  • Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  • Small Business and Entrepreneurship
  • Intelligence

A gold mark names a leadership post. The posts and committees are the 119th Congress’s, as senate.gov lists them: a chair led a full committee for the majority, a ranking member was the senior member of the minority on it. The 120th Congress, which Democrats control, names its own in January 2027.

The filibuster

The senator’s own public position, from a recorded vote or a dated statement. A talking filibuster requires senators to hold the floor to block a vote.

Ending the legislative filibuster

Opposes

We talk to Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Budd about the federal government shutdown, election wins for Democrats this past Tuesday and his opposition to ending the filibuster.

Spectrum News 1 ‘Capital Tonight’ (opens in a new tab), November 6, 2025.

A talking filibuster

No public position found

No vote or dated statement on this found.

Sources (1)
  1. 8Spectrum News 1 ‘Capital Tonight’, November 6, 2025 Open the source (opens in a new tab)

The state’s other seat

North Carolina’s other Senate seat is not on the 2028 ballot.

Senator-elect
Roy Cooper
Party
Democrat
Next on the ballot
2032The current term ends January 3, 2033.

The two seats are on different ballots: this one in 2028, the other in 2032. From the 120th Congress Senate roster: holdover senators from congress-legislators (retrieved 2026-10-03) and the November 3, 2026 winners called by NBC News and the Associated Press, merged by scripts/build_120th.py (opens in a new tab) dataset, retrieved November 5, 2026.

Sources (1)
  1. 9120th Congress Senate roster: holdover senators from congress-legislators (retrieved 2026-10-03) and the November 3, 2026 winners called by NBC News and the Associated Press, merged by scripts/build_120th.py dataset Retrieved November 5, 2026. Open the source (opens in a new tab)

Election history

2022 election
Won with 50.5% of the voteOfficial results (opens in a new tab)
2028
Six-year term. The seat is on the ballot November 7, 2028.
Sources (1)
  1. 10Official results, 2022 Open the source (opens in a new tab)

Financial records

Cash on hand
$728,189

Cash on hand from the latest Federal Election Commission filing of the senator’s campaign committee.

Sources (1)
  1. 11Federal Election Commission, October quarterly report Open the source (opens in a new tab)

Scorecards

GOP Platform (opens in a new tab) 2025
89
The link opens the scorecard’s list for the state, which shows this score: the member’s own page is not available.

Progressive scorecards, out of 100

Progressive Punch (opens in a new tab) lifetime, all votes
1
The link opens the scorecard’s list for the state, which shows this score: the member’s own page is not available.

Mirrored for every senator of either party: the League of Conservation Voters’ lifetime score, read from the senator’s page; Progressive Punch’s lifetime score on all votes, read from its Senate table; and Democracy Defenders Action’s Stop Corruption Now score for the 119th Congress (September 16, 2026), its total on 10 anti-corruption and pro-democracy votes and cosponsorships, shown out of 100. No score means none was published.

Each out of 100, as the group publishes it: Heritage Action and Turning Point Action (the senator’s lifetime scores), Club for Growth (the senator’s lifetime rating) and GOP Platform (2025), which measures agreement with the national Republican Party platform and is published by the Institute for Legislative Analysis.

“No score published” means the group published none, not zero.

How to read this

Each group’s name links to the senator’s own page on its scorecard, or to the scorecard’s list for the state where the line under it says so, opened on the date shown.

Sources (7)
  1. 12Heritage Action scorecard, Ted Budd’s page Retrieved October 4, 2026. Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  2. 13Club for Growth scorecard, Ted Budd’s page Retrieved October 4, 2026. Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  3. 14Turning Point Action scorecard, Ted Budd’s page Retrieved October 4, 2026. Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  4. 15GOP Platform scorecard, list for North Carolina (Ted Budd’s own page is not available) Retrieved October 4, 2026. Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  5. 16League of Conservation Voters scorecard, Ted Budd’s page Retrieved October 31, 2026. Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  6. 17Progressive Punch scorecard, list for North Carolina (Ted Budd’s own page is not available) Retrieved October 31, 2026. Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  7. 18Stop Corruption Now (Democracy Defenders Action) scorecard, Ted Budd’s page Retrieved October 31, 2026. Open the source (opens in a new tab)

Endorsements

By the groups the House field tracks for Republicans: Donald Trump, Club for Growth, Turning Point Action and MAHA PAC.

Endorsed: the group endorsed the officeholder in that race. None on record: no endorsement found in the sources listed.

Sources (11)
  1. 19Endorsements, 2028 race so far: trumpstruth.org Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  2. 20Endorsements, 2028 race so far: ballotpedia.org Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  3. 21Endorsements, 2028 race so far: clubforgrowth.org Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  4. 22Endorsements, 2028 race so far: tpaction.com Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  5. 23Endorsements, 2028 race so far: FEC bulk data, committee contributions to candidates, 2023-24 Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  6. 24Endorsements, 2028 race so far: FEC bulk data, committee contributions to candidates, 2025-26 Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  7. 25Endorsements, 2022 race: youtube.com Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  8. 26Endorsements, 2022 race: clubforgrowth.org Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  9. 27Endorsements, 2022 race: ballotpedia.org Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  10. 28Endorsements, 2022 race: FEC bulk data, committee contributions to candidates, 2021-22 (Save America C00762591, Trump’s leadership PAC) Open the source (opens in a new tab)
  11. 29Endorsements, 2022 race: FEC: Save America, leadership PAC Open the source (opens in a new tab)

Sources

Each section lists its own sources, numbered through the page. Here they are together.

All sources for this record (29)