As House Republicans dodged holding town halls across the country in fear of Democrat-organized protests, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) saw the consequences of not heeding House Speaker Mike Johnson’s advice to avoid holding them.
Edwards said he didn’t want to “shy away” from speaking to his constituents, who then showed up in force at his Thursday town hall to protest and boo him.
The North Carolina representative found it difficult to get a word in while approximately 300 people packed into a college auditorium in Asheville and over 1,000 people outside were booing, jeering, and shouting expletives.
Edwards represents North Carolina’s 11th congressional District, which encompasses much of Western North Carolina and Asheville. He won reelection handily in 2024, beating North Carolina House Rep. Caleb Rudow, 56.8% to 43.2%. Hurricane Helene’s flooding hit his district hard, requiring millions of dollars in aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the recovery effort.
The majority of Buncombe County, where the town hall was held, voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
At one point during the town hall, a self-professed veteran screamed at Edwards, “I’m a veteran, and you don’t give a f*ck about me,” and was removed by police.
A person is removed from the Chuck Edwards town hall
“Do your job that you were sent there to do… to represent us all. I’m a veteran and you don’t give a fuck about me” pic.twitter.com/F9Hg6NiElf
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 13, 2025
The moment illustrated the tense atmosphere surrounding the town hall, where constituents asked questions about Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, cuts to programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and Trump’s threats to acquire or annex Canada and Greenland.
On the latter question, Edwards said he didn’t support annexing those countries, which elicited applause from the audience.
Edwards pleaded with the crowd multiple times to let him speak. “Let me answer, and then if you don’t like it, you can boo or hiss or whatever you’d like to do,” Edwards said.
At another, he expressed his frustration again. “I feel like this is not productive with everybody yelling at me,” he said.
His extended response cheered the crowd up, but perhaps not in the way he was hoping. “You’re not gonna like a lot of [the answers], and you certainly will have the right in the next election to cast your vote based off what you’re hearing coming from me now.”
The crowd burst into cheers after that comment, suggesting they would vote against Edwards in 2026.
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Edwards said in a post-town hall press conference that he would continue doing town halls. He said during the event that he prided his “accessibility to the public,” which drew some favor from the crowd.
“This was a little more uncomfortable than some of the others, but that’s OK. Folks should have the right to voice their opinion,” he said.
