Associated Press

RALEIGH — U.S. Rep. Ted Budd has won a crowded Republican primary for retiring GOP Sen. Richard Burr’s seat in North Carolina.

Budd’s win is also a victory for former President Donald Trump, who elevated the little-known congressman with a surprise endorsement nearly a year ago. A super PAC affiliated with the conservative Club for Growth spent millions on ads supporting Budd and attacking his chief rival, former Gov. Pat McCrory, as too liberal.

McCrory was considered a moderate in the 14-candidate primary but is best known nationally for signing a “bathroom bill” targeting transgender people in 2016 that cost the state billions. Former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker also competed in the race.

Budd avoided a runoff by garnering more than 30% of the vote in the primary. He now advances to the November general election, where he’ll take on Democrat Cheri Beasley, a former state Supreme Court chief justice. Beasley would be North Carolina’s first Black senator if elected in the Republican-leaning state.

Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Idaho and Oregon are holding primary elections Tuesday. Former President Donald Trump put his endorsement record on the line in two key Republican primaries for open U.S. Senate seats in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Voters in three states — Pennsylvania, Idaho and Oregon — are picking their nominees for governor.

 

Cheri Beasley won the North Carolina Democratic primary in the race to succeed Burr.

The former state Supreme Court chief justice defeated 10 other Democrats on Tuesday. Beasley would be North Carolina’s first Black U.S. senator if she wins in November.

Beasley became the Democratic front-runner as two key rivals bowed out last fall.

Beasley was elected to the state Court of Appeals in 2008. She was later appointed to the Supreme Court, won an election and was named chief justice by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper in 2019. In 2020, she lost a statewide election to remain chief justice by just 400 votes.

 

In other races:

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Charles Booker has won the Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate in his bid to stop a decadeslong winning streak by Kentucky Republicans.

Booker defeated three opponents in the Democratic primary. He will challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul in the November election.

The fall campaign will feature sharply contrasting agendas. Paul promotes limited government while Booker supports sweeping health care and anti-poverty programs.

The Bluegrass State hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.

Booker is back with his “hood to the holler” campaign agenda after narrowly losing the Democratic Senate primary two years ago.
He promotes social programs such as Medicare for All and a basic universal income. Booker says such proposals would uplift people across the Bluegrass State, including poor urban neighborhoods and struggling Appalachian towns.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has won his party’s nomination in his quest for a third term.

The libertarian-leaning Paul coasted to victory over five little-known challengers in the GOP Senate primary in Kentucky. Paul is a former presidential candidate who has gained a national voice in supporting limited government and a restrained foreign policy.

Kentucky hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the leading contender in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, said his pacemaker surgery was successful and he is “on track for a full recovery” after suffering a stroke last week.

The 52-year-old Fetterman has said his stroke was caused by atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat that’s potentially serious but treatable. He tweeted an update after surgery Tuesday, saying “We got the all-clear that it was successful.”

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said Pennsylvania’s top-ranking state senator, Sen. Jake Corman, will take over as acting lieutenant governor while Fetterman recovers. Corman, a Republican, serves as the Senate’s president pro tempore. Fetterman can reassume his duties and powers four days after his office informs state lawmakers that he is not disabled.

Corman had been running in the GOP primary for governor but ended his campaign last week.

Fetterman is facing three other candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey is retiring.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. — Printing mistakes will force local election officials in Pennsylvania and Oregon to redo thousands of mailed ballots, a laborious process that could delay results for some closely contested races in Tuesday’s primaries.

In Pennsylvania, where GOP primaries for governor and U.S. Senate are drawing national attention, officials in Republican-leaning Lancaster County said the company that printed its mailed ballots included the wrong ID code, which is preventing scanning machines from reading them. The glitch will force election workers to hand-mark fresh ballots.

In Oregon, where all registered voters receive a mailed ballot, officials in one politically pivotal county are dealing with a similar problem. About half the ballots sent to voters in Clackamas County, included a blurry bar code that cannot be read by ballot-scanning machines. Teams are duplicating every ballot so they can be scanned.

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BRADDOCK, Pa. — Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the leading contender in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, is getting a pacemaker following last week’s stroke.

His campaign said Tuesday that Fetterman was “about to undergo a standard procedure” to get a pacemaker with a defibrillator. Campaign officials say the pacemaker will “protect his heart and address the underlying cause of his stroke.”

Fetterman has said his stroke was caused by atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat that’s potentially serious but treatable.

The stroke put him in the hospital in the campaign’s closing days. The 52-year-old says he’s expected to make a full recovery.

Fetterman is facing three other candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey is retiring.