Summary
Rep. Chuck Edwards’ North Carolina town hall erupted in chaos as constituents furiously protested DOGE, a Trump administration initiative tied to mass federal job cuts and Elon Musk’s growing influence.
Attendees, including laid-off government workers, jeered at Edwards over employment losses and reduced federal funding.
Constituents raised concerns about federal job cuts affecting veterans’ services, national parks, and Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
Edwards struggled to respond but remained unfazed. The GOP downplayed the unrest, calling it staged, though independent voters like veteran Martin Downie say they feel directly targeted by their own government.
For anyone who is not familiar, Asheville is a very Left-leaning city in a deep red state. Last time I saw that many granola crunching hippies was in my mom’s photo albums of the Haight-Ashbury district in '69. I’m not saying the town hall was full of Democrats, or that Asheville doesn’t have its fair share of dyed-in-the-wool conservatives. I’m just saying that the general mindset in Asheville leans much further Left than the rest of NC, and that may explain why Edwards was getting so much shit from the public. Buncombe County (where Asheville is) voted 61% for Edwards’ Democratic opponent Caleb Rudow in 2024.
Here’s a pic I took of some graffiti while I was up there not long ago.
North Carolina is not a deep red state. It’s actually more purple than ppl realize. Especially with the influx of ppl from the Northeast moving there in mass.
Fuck it. More graffiti. Some trippy cats.