Budd is running against at least two other prominent Republicans: U.S. Rep. Mark Walker and former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory, and the former presidents nod is likely to give Budd a boost.
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A lot of you dont know him well, Trump said, introducing Budd to the stage. He will fight like hell. He will fight like nobody fights.
Minutes after the speech, McCrory held an impromptu news conference in the back of the ballroom, blaming Washington insider advisers around Trump for not receiving the endorsement himself.
McCrory would not say who he believed those insiders were but said that may be a good pick when asked whether former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows could have been the adviser. McCrory said he knew that Trump was being worked for his endorsement but that he had not spoken to him about it.
McCrory repeatedly told reporters that he believed the audience was flat after Trump gave Budd his endorsement, arguing that North Carolina voters would make their choice no matter whom Trump supported. Much of the audience cheered for Budd.
Walker, also an ally of Trump, said on Twitter that he had won the straw poll from the room.