Just hours before former President Donald Trump is set to take the stage at the Republican National Convention Thursday night, a North Carolina congressman delivered his own speech to an audience of 50,000.
Rep. Richard Hudson, a Republican from Southern Pines, gave the second speech of Thursday night, which marked the last evening of the Republican National Convention. He then joined Trump in his presidential box to watch the convention.
“A Republican House is ... essential to ensuring Donald Trump’s success as our president,” Hudson told the convention. “Can you imagine? Can you imagine what Nancy Pelosi’s protege, Hakeem Jeffries, would do if he was speaker of the House, to undermine Donald Trump?”
Hudson had teased portions of his speech in an exclusive interview with McClatchy on Wednesday afternoon and explained why he believed it was essential for the House to have a Republican president and why Trump needs a majority in the House.
Hudson serves as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and in the role oversees the campaign to elect Republicans to the House.
This week, campaign finance reports were due to the Federal Election Commission.
“We had the best second quarter of any election year we’ve ever had in the history of our committee,” Hudson said. “And then the Democrats beat us by $7 million.”
Historically, Democrats raise more than Republicans, Hudson said, which he adds come from their connections to labor unions, billionaires and some Democratic foundations. By one measure, Hudson said, Democrats outspent Republicans by $100 million in the last election cycle, even as Republicans gained enough seats to narrowly take over the House.
“We lost eight to 10 seats because we got outspent” in those races, Hudson said.
“So my goal has always been keeping it close. Overall, they’ve out-raised us, but I’ve kept the cash-on-hand difference very tight, so as long as we start with how much money we have to spend, if I can keep that close, we’re going to be very successful.”
Competitive races
North Carolina has only one truly competitive House race, and that’s the 1st Congressional District race, between incumbent Democratic Rep. Don Davis and retired Army Colonel Laurie Buckhout.
“I’m really excited about Laurie Buckhout,” Hudson said. “I think she’s going to win. Roll Call said that Don Davis is the second most vulnerable Democrat. He’s a good guy. He’s affable. I like him, but he doesn’t vote right.”
Davis is a moderate Democrat. In May, Voteview, which tracks the political ideology of each member of Congress, showed that Davis votes with his party 88% of the time, while the rest of the state’s Democrats vote with the party at least 94% of the time.
Hudson said looking around the country, he’s feeling good about how House Republicans are spending their campaign dollars, and the strategy they have to maintain the House majority.
Hudson’s speech
Hudson told McClatchy he planned to use his speech to talk about how House Republicans have “passed a lot of policies” this session.
This session of Congress has been known as one of the least effective in history.
But Hudson blamed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, for preventing Republican policy from being taken up in the upper chamber, and President Joe Biden for threatening to veto those policies.
He ticked off several policies passed in the House that never made it to the Senate floor. Many included poison pills or legislation that would be unpopular with Democrats.
“They didn’t get signed into law because the Senate won’t take them up and the president won’t sign them,” Hudson told McClatchy, adding that he believes it will result in an election sweep because people will see what Republicans stood for.
Trump’s speech
In Wednesday’s interview, Hudson talked about his thoughts regarding Trump’s speech Thursday night.
It’s a much anticipated address, after Trump announced he threw out his original words after a shooter attempted to kill the former president Saturday night. Law enforcement said the attacker was a 20-year-old man who was shot and killed.
Trump said he wants to use the speech to unite the country.
“I’m kind of excited to see tomorrow night,” Hudson said on Wednesday. “I think a lot of Americans are going to take a second look, because of the shooting. They’re going to be curious. I think it’s gonna be an incredible moment and I hope you’ll show more of yourself.”
He added that he has spent a lot of time with the former president and he hopes that people get to see the raw, softer side of Trump that draws him to the former president.
The shooting
Hudson wasn’t home when a bullet struck Trump in the ear.
And he had his ringer turned off.
“I looked down and I had 30 missed calls and 50 new text messages and my wife was calling,” Hudson said.
He said when he finally got home and could watch the replays, it was “just a punch in the gut.”
“I felt a lot of anger,” Hudson said.
Hudson doesn’t understand how an attempted assassination on the president could happen, or how a gunman could get that close.
“But also when the president got up, it was one of the most American things I’ve seen in my life,” Hudson said. “I think there’s something in our DNA as Americans that we get knocked down but we get back up again. It was just an amazing moment.”
Hudson said he was also grateful that Trump came to the arena Monday night, instead of making Republicans wait until Thursday, when he’s expected to give his acceptance speech, to see that he’s OK.
Hudson said he also noted Trump’s own reaction to arriving at Fiserv Forum Monday night.
“To see the humility,” Hudson said. “He let his guard down.”
Hudson said it gave people a window into what Trump’s like outside the public eye.
“He’s a great guy,” Hudson said. “A warm, very funny — loves this country and he’s a guy who could literally be doing anything right now but he’s put himself in the arena because he loves his country.”
Under the Dome
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