(WGHP) — Republicans across the country have remained disciplined in their efforts to say they have answers when it comes to taming inflation. In their view, that starts with energy production.

“I understand we have 600 years left of natural gas which…would drive down the coast of our power…the cost of our gasoline, diesel, to get the groceries to our grocery store. It would reduce the cost of our fertilizer to produce the groceries,” said Ted Budd, the Republicans’ nominee for North Carolina’s US Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Richard Burr.

The other issue Republicans are trying to keep front and center is the flood of migrants at the southern border. Budd has been there to see it first-hand and says it’s worse than most people realize as a record 227,547 people crossing the US border illegally were arrested by agents, according to Customs and Border Control data, including 98 people on the terror watchlist.

“When I was down there on the border not too long ago, you’ve seen the access roads. Sometimes there’s a wall. Sometimes there’s a single-strand barbed wire fence. Sometimes there’s nothing at all,” Budd said. “And they were off-duty officers that I was with. They went on duty. They said ‘I’m sorry. I have to arrest these cartel members.’ And when they got back in the truck, they were exhausted. They said ‘we’ve got to finish this wall, but what we really need is an administration that has our back.’”

Democrats want to keep the discussion on what they consider to be more day-to-day life issues, such as healthcare, which Budd doesn’t see as being the dire need Democrats make it out to be.

“They have a lot of good options,” Budd said of what people can do to get access to healthcare. “A good-paying job right now is the best place for 80% of the population. What we need is for these that are entrepreneurs or starting small businesses or for small businesses to have association-based healthcare plans. That’s something I’ve proposed for short-term, 365-day plan. Those are all options that have been shut down by the left.”

Another issue that has been sweeping across the country over the last decade is the legalization of marijuana, which is something Budd opposes.

“If you just look at the evidence. I talked to some legislators that are from the Colorado area, that are in liberalized states where it’s been decriminalized, and they list the mental health issue where typically a homeless person may have been older in the past. Now, it’s a younger person. I think it sends a very bad signal to the next generation about what’s acceptable and how to make ourselves valuable to others,” Budd said.

See more on Ted Budd’s stance on key issues in this Your Local Election Headquarters edition of The Buckley Report.