Lobbying in support of a candidate he trusts will govern in line with his America First Projects, Former President Donald J. Trump has distressed several members of the North Carolina Republican Party. On June 5^th, just minutes after his daughter-in-law Lara Trump confirmed she would not be running for the open seat in the 2022 Republican primary, the former president announced his endorsement for Rep. Ted Budd for the Senate in North Carolina

“There’s somebody in this room that I think is very special,” said Trump at the state GOPs convention in Greenville. “This man is a great politician but more importantly, he loves the state of North Carolina. This gentleman is going to be your next senator.”

Budd was elected to Congress in 2016 and in April announced his plan toe run for the Republican nomination Senate seat currently held be Sen. Richard Burr.  Burr has sat in the senate for three terms and had decided to retire.

Budd announced his campaign with a video displaying him aboard a monster truck driving over cars painted with the message, “liberal agenda.” Trump’s backing shows Budd is part of the America First Projects which is “committed to maintaining the United States of America as the greatest nation in the history of man.”

Trumps support of Budd has other state representatives concerned as they see him as a capitol hill insider who won’t behave in the state’s interests. Also of concern is that Budd will not win the Senate race itself, despite winning the primary with Trump’s support.

What has state representatives disturbed are the statistics of a straw poll of Republican representatives earlier that day. Senate candidate Mark Walker drew the support of 44% of the delegates, while Budd drew a distant 29%.

Mark Meadows, who had resigned his North Carolina congressional seat in 2020 to server as the White House Chief of Staff under Trump, is accused of failing to relate the results of the poll to Trump.