RALEIGH, N.C. — Cheri Beasley has won the Democratic nomination for US Senate. Associated Press called the race 20 minutes after the polls closed Tuesday night.
Results showed Beasley winning by a landslide, logging nearly 85% of the votes with few precincts reporting totals.
Beasley addressed voters in Raleigh after the results came down.
"As your Senator, I will fight to keep jobs rooted in our local communities— investing in a Made-in-America economy, ensuring people can get the training they need for high-paying, in-demand careers, and creating good-paying jobs by investing in renewable energy. I will also work to support our small businesses who are the backbone of our economy.
As your Senator, I will fight to lower costs - from prices at the pump to prescription drugs. I will work to expand the Affordable Care Act and Medicare to ensure that people in every part of North Carolina have access to the care they need," Beasley said.
The former North Carolina Chief Justice will face Republican nominee Ted Budd in the US Senate race in November.
Beasley's nomination comes as no surprise. She became the presumptive nominee for the Democrats when her main opponent, state Senator Jeff Jackson, left the race in December. He threw his support to Beasley.
If elected in November, Beasley would become North Carolina's first Black U.S. senator.
"North Carolina, I am honored to be your nominee. And I’m honored to stand with all of you, and on the shoulders of the many trailblazers who came before, to be the first African American woman to be your Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate," Beasley said on election night.
Prior to the primary election, political polls showed if Beasley faced Budd in the U.S. Senate race, Budd would be favored by a 5-point spread. However, in another poll between Beasley and Republican candidate Pat McCrory, Beasley was favored to win slightly.
According to her website, Cheri Beasley says she is running for U.S. Senate for "the pursuit of justice and fairness, and a relentless refusal to see it abandoned."
Some of her priorities include expanding access to quality, affordable healthcare, creating a workforce with good-paying jobs, establishing a family leave policy, taking on climate change, reforming the criminal justice system, and more.
