>2500 Constituents Push Back at Chuck Edwards's Town Hall
Constituents from at least half a dozen western NC counties showed up to give Congressman Chuck Edwards an earful at the town hall Edwards organized in Asheville yesterday evening.
Scroll down for my full report on the event, which was also covered by a large pack of other media. Here’s a selection emphasizing WNC-based media: Mountain Xpress 3/13, Smoky Mountain News 3/19, AP 3/13, AVLWatchdog 3/14 detailed fact-checking and followup about man escorted out of event by police, NCNewsline 3/14, BPR 3/14, Assembly 3/14, Daily Beast 3/14 (very detailed, but inaccurately describes the event as “out of control”; Edwards himself called it “lively”), Raleigh N&O 3/14, Digby’s Blog 3/14, Asheville Citizen-Times 3/14, BPR livestream 3/13, and many YouTube videos of varying quality.
Constituents began lining up midday at Ferguson Auditorium on AB Tech’s Asheville, NC, campus where Congressman Chuck Edwards’s town hall was held yesterday evening. By 4:30PM, the line extended as far as the eye could see and already exceeded the capacity of the auditorium:
At 5PM, doors opened and more than 300 of us went in. (Media had entered earlier and were allotted several rows of the auditorium.) We were scanned with metal detectors, our bags were searched, no signs were allowed inside, and we were required to sign in with name, phone number, and zip code—only residents of Edwards’s congressional district were allowed.
Outside, after the hall’s capacity was reached and no more allowed in, the crowd of well over 2000 gathered into an impromptu rally with roughly equal numbers of men and women, and all ages including children, although more older than younger folks. The weather was fine, and the mood was upbeat.
Indoors, Rep. Edwards arrived shortly before the town hall’s scheduled 6PM start, and began working the front row of the audience, then up an aisle, shaking hands and chatting.
I generally dislike putting myself in stories I’m reporting, but two bits this evening turned out to be relevant. The first was this: I was sitting on the aisle Edwards was walking up, and when he came to me and shook my hand I told him I wanted to hear him tell the truth. He looked a bit blank, so I added that I didn’t want to listen to any lies from him this evening. While Edwards was trying to muster a response that conveyed a sense that not-lying was his usual modus op., a woman in the row in front of me said “We’ll hold you accountable for that,” and I agreed. At that point, Edwards stopped shaking hands and headed back down to the front of the hall.
The town hall opened at 6PM with everyone standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. At the last words of that, “liberty and justice for all,” the word ALL! became a lusty shout followed by loud, cheering applause.
Edwards started by giving an “update” about Hurricane Helene recovery work in WNC and about his work in Washington more broadly. A pattern developed that persisted through the evening: Constituents mainly listened to Edwards without shouting him down—but when he said something they found outrageous or untrue, the audience refused to sit in silence as though they approved. I saw no conflicts with pro-GOP constituents in the hall.
The audience had come for a town hall, not a long speech by Edwards about what he presented as GOP accomplishments in DC, and after about 10 minutes of that speech individuals began demanding that Edwards “listen to us now,” “stop selling yourself,” and saying that they didn’t need to hear even any Helene update from him (“we know all that,” “we lived through this”).
One man, Jay Carey, a retired, disabled Army combat veteran, was escorted out of the hall by police after standing and yelling passionately “He has nothing to say but lies! You’re lying! I’m a veteran and you don’t give a fuck about me! You need to stand up for us!” and refusing to shut up and sit down. After the event, Carey said he “could not continue to sit quietly in the audience while Representative Edwards blatantly lied to his constituents.” The audience cheered Carey as he was led out. (At an event earlier in the day in Canton, west of Asheville, another man was led away by police after Edwards ducked his question about Medicaid and school funding. See Smoky Mountain News 3/13.)
Meanwhile, outdoors, a large group of constituents moved to a door near the front of the auditorium, where Edwards had entered and where police continued to move in and out. Whenever the door opened, the audience inside heard and applauded a loud roar as the crowd outside yelled “Coward!”
The last hour of the town hall was all Q&A. The questions, both pre-written and presented live by attendees, were mostly earnest, incisive, and met with audience applause—a few got standing ovations. Top questions addressed veterans, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the US Dept of Education (Edwards favors abolishing it), Ukraine, USAID, support for democracy, and “Why are you doing nothing while Trump destroys the US Constitution?”
Edwards was mostly given space to answer, but the crowd heckled him when his answers were evasive, dishonest, or repetitions of untrue GOP talking points. Many called out “that’s not true” or “you’re lying” or “liar!” in response to specific things he said. I’d brought with me an 8.5x11 piece of paper with “That’s a LIE!” printed on it in big bold letters, which I held up for Edwards to see when he said things that were untrue—again, and again, and again.
At one point, when Edwards was leafing through notes, someone said “Looking for what Trump told you to say?” (By then, a few audience members were walking out in disgust.) When he found what he was looking for, and started reading a list of wasteful programs DOGE had allegedly found, the heckling eventually made him give that up: “You’re a lost cause, Chuck.” “You’re a congressman. Do your job.” Many hecklers noted that there was no evidence for specific claims, or that they had already been debunked.
The event ended on time, at 7:30PM. Edwards said it had been “fun.” He was then blocked from leaving until after 8PM by the large crowd outside the door, some of whom sat down around the vehicles used by Edwards’s entourage:
I don’t know if Edwards saw any of the signs carried by his constituents outside. The one in this photo says “A king is not a king unless we bow.”
If you see something in any NC News Digest post that’s incorrect … PLEASE let me know (email to ncnewsdigest@substack.com) so I can publish a correction. Truth matters. Thanks for your help.
A million thanks for this excellent coverage of Thursday's event and for your willingness to speak the truth in your brief face-to-face interaction with Congressman Edwards!
I was so sorry that I couldn't be there. Thank you to everyone who attended and who shared their views with him. I am so tired of hearing lies from him and it seems that I am not the only one.