North Carolina GOP Senate Candidate Ted Budd Has Been a Steadfast Friend to Banks
Republican Senate nominee Ted Budd helped clear the way for a controversial 2019 bank merger — then took big campaign cash and loans from the resulting financial behemoth.
US Senate candidate Representative Ted Budd (R-NC) does an interview with a Japanese television outlet at the Onslow County Red Rally in Jacksonville, NC, on Friday, October 14, 2022. (Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
In 2019, consumer advocates began sounding the alarm throughout Washington about a potential merger that aimed to create the nation’s sixth largest bank. Watchdogs warned that a decade after the financial crisis, melding two southeast banking giants would construct another “too big to fail” behemoth, likely leading to huge layoffs, worse customer service, and higher customer fees.
But when the proposal to merge SunTrust and BB&T came before a congressional oversight committee that summer, a little-known Republican came to the banks’ aid.
“We all know that this is a political hearing,” Representative Ted Budd (R-NC) said during the session, denouncing the oversight as unnecessary and praising the banks’ community service.
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