What Went Down During The May 17 Primary Elections

Amelia, Hines’s journey to the 13th District has been quite something. A Charlotte native who lived in Winston-Salem at the time, Hines originally announced he was running in the 5th District, which contained neither Charlotte nor Winston-Salem. But after Budd decided to run for Senate, Hines switched to Budd’s 13th District, where he spent part of his childhood. That became the 7th District under the new congressional map passed by Republicans last year but was eliminated when that map was struck down as an illegal gerrymander. Hines then opted to run in the new 13th District, which is south of Raleigh and doesn’t overlap at all with the old 13th.

With 29 percent of the vote in, Hines is leading in the Republican primary in North Carolina’s 13th district, with 32.5 percent of the vote. Opponents Barbour and Daughtry are trailing behind him, with 21.9 percent of the vote and 19.5 percent of the vote, respectively. As a reminder, Hines was heavily criticized for shopping around for a district to run in — it’s fair to say his ties to this district are not strong. His support from Trump and the Club for Growth may help him overcome that obstacle, though.

Ted Budd’s big victory tonight — with about a third of all ballots in, he’s at 56 percent of the vote — was by no means guaranteed. When he started his campaign, he was polling in the single digits, far behind former Gov. Pat McCrory. Now, McCrory is the one who’s behind, with less than half of Budd’s share of the vote.

So, what changed? It wasn’t just Trump. While Trump should take credit for elevating Budd’s campaign, his endorsement came almost a year ago, making it less pivotal than that of Vance in the Ohio Senate primary, where Trump endorsed just a few weeks before the primary.

Instead, Budd proved himself to be the rare candidate who performed better with primary and general election voters — and McCrory, who’s lost two previous statewide elections, wasn’t the strongest candidate, either. Despite his previous conservative record, he refashioned himself as the moderate candidate in the race, leaving him open to attacks from the left. But this didn’t make him seem more electable — according to a recent poll, Budd beat presumptive Democratic nominee Cheri Beasley, 48 percent to 41 percent, in a hypothetical head-to-head, but Beasley defeated McCrory, 44 percent to 39 percent.

Budd’s victory was a rare instance in which the party establishment’s interests aligned with the wishes of primary voters. But there’s more races ahead that will likely be more difficult.