ICYMI: “$1.5M Ad Campaign Touts Robinson’s Backing Of Budd”
Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, WRAL’s Bryan Anderson published an exclusive report on the new Club for Growth Action TV advertisement launching today, April 20th. The ad features NC Lt. Governor Mark Robinson discussing why he is supporting Ted Budd in the North Carolina Republican Senate primary despite his past support of Pat McCrory.
Click here to watch the Club for Growth Action ad, “Weight.”
Click here to read the WRAL story.
Story Excerpts
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson said his decision to support U.S. Rep. Ted Budd’s run for the state’s open U.S Senate seat was “one of the toughest” he’s had to make since entering the political arena.
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“Pat put liberals in charge of state textbooks and supported Democrat judges,” Robinson says in the ad. “This time, we don’t have to settle. So I’m throwing my weight—and that’s a lot of weight—behind a principled, conservative choice for U.S. Senate, my friend Ted Budd.”
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Robinson said in an interview that McCrory should’ve done more to prevent those appointments.
“I have the greatest respect for Pat and what he did when he was governor,” said Robinson, who voted for McCrory in previous elections. “But I don’t think that he pushed as hard as he could on that issue and stood as firm as he could have on that issue. I feel like the main issues that we’re dealing with now are because he did not do that, and that’s the reason why I had no problem making those statements in that ad.”
Robinson said he decided to endorse Budd after he started to view the GOP primary contest as a two-man race. The decision to back Budd meant Robinson also wouldn’t support his close friend, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, who is also running for the seat.
“I have great respect for Ted Budd,” Robinson said. “I have great respect for the volume of conservative work that he has done and I think he will make a fantastic senator. Because it did come down between him and Pat McCrory, I feel like [Budd’s] the much more viable and better candidate. We had to do what we felt like we needed to do in order to beat the Democrat in November.”
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In the ad, Robinson labels Budd as the most “principled, conservative choice” for Republican primary voters. The lieutenant governor also mentions his support for McCrory’s past gubernatorial bids.
“I’ve voted for Pat McCrory in the past, but not this time,” Robinson says in the ad. “Pat’s a nice guy, but he’s no conservative.”
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Robinson first endorsed Budd at an April 9 rally held in Johnston County by former President Donald Trump, who backed Budd in June 2021. Robinson said he had supported McCrory’s gubernatorial general election bids in 2012 and 2016.