Former President Donald Trump may not be on the ballot this year, but his impact is being felt in North Carolina. 

He’s been actively involved in the 2022 midterms.

“Among likely Republican voters it’s the single biggest factor that moves the needle in my favor,” Republican candidate Ted Budd said.

Trump endorsed Budd for Senate, Republican Bo Hines for Congress in North Carolina’s 13th District and he’s been supportive of Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who’s running for re-election in North Carolina’s 11th District.

“Donald Trump is the formal leader of this party,” said Western Carolina University politics professor Chris Cooper. “He’s the absolute informal leader of the party in North Carolina and nationally."

Trump’s track record of endorsements in other states is mixed so far.

His pick for Ohio’s next senator won his primary as did his choice for a U.S. House district in West Virginia. But the candidate he backed in Nebraska’s gubernatorial election lost. 

North Carolina is one of the early primary states.

“I think it’s a Trump state and a purple state both simultaneously, and that’s a really tough thing to understand, but the Republican Party definitely has Trump at the top of it in every way,” Cooper said.