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2026 Watauga County Meet the Candidates - Chuck Hubbard - US House - NC-5 · Mind Your Business - A Podcast Series produced by the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this special election edition of Mind Your Business.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm David Jackson.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Boone Area and Blowing Rock Chambers of Commerce are proud to host our annual Meet the Candidates Forum in conjunction with the 2026 General Election.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: While the Wataga County Board of Education and Board of Commissioners and races for the State House and Senate were conducted as part of our in-person forum at the Appalachian Theater back on October 1st, candidates for U.S.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: House, Watuga County Sheriff, and Wataga County Clerk of Court were interviewed individually.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: This episode features our conversation with Chuck Hubbard, the Democratic candidate for North Carolina's 5th District of the U.S.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: House of Representatives.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: As we get started, I know that our listeners are familiar with you having run for this seat before.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you could maybe just start out uh by by offering uh why you're back again.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: What is it about this position that that has had you run uh again and and and what what is it that fuels your passion to get to Washington?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that uh people in the 5th district deserve a member of Congress who represents them personally and represents their their issues.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, we're faced with a situation with regard to affordability of life and uh artificial intelligence and and corruption out of the White House that's uh uh pretty much overwhelming.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Everywhere I hear people are going uh struggling financially, some going broke.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you need somebody there who's fighting for the middle class and the working class, and that will be me.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they haven't had that in 21 years, and I intend to do it.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: There was recently uh a federal review council appointed by President Trump that recommended some pretty major changes to FEMA.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, as you know what Helene's impact has been on this region since we last talked, we have seen some of these programs actually get implemented uh and and run their course in the typical disaster fashion.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, do you support the changes that are being suggested for FEMA?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And how would you make sure, if elected, that rural mountain communities are represented uh and and aren't necessarily um uh cost burdened to have to afford some of the things that come up in a typical disaster response?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: What happened during her cane, of course, is that uh people will remember this.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Donald Trump came in campaigning and said that he was gonna, that FEMA was awful and that uh FEMA was a disaster itself, and that he was gonna provide the funding and he was gonna do this and he was gonna do that.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the first thing he did when he got into office, of course, is allowed Doge, uh, which was uh an entity that he created out of whole cloth that had no, shouldn't have had any authority at all, to uh damage FEMA.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: They uh took about$60 billion out of the Hurricane Helene uh recovery uh and left people uh in the lurch in North Carolina.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: We funded Katrina, we funded Super Storm Sandy when they what when those people experienced damage, severe damage.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: We needed that help, and uh you know what?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't do it.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: So uh uh my point would be this FEMA was doing fine as hadn't handled things for years.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh any organization needs a tweak every now and then, no question about it.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh uh but but Trump did this, and Virginia Fox did not say a word, not a word, when that money was removed.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's a shame.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're gonna restore FEMA uh to its former glory or former uh uh efficiency and effectiveness, and we're gonna make sure that uh there are people now, for example, who still have homes that are damaged, don't have water, don't have electricity.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: I visited with a lady up in uh in a young couple up in Blowing Rock recently, and that was their situation here nearly two years out.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Two years out now.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we've got to put the money back in.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Donald Trump will fight the soul the way on it, but uh Congress is the one that allocates funds, and and this is what we have to do.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned the relationship that that Congress has in this um this particular issue of Halene recovery.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that we've noted here in North Carolina is a strong contingent of our congressional delegation that has remained uh not only in lockstep with the governor, but the General Assembly and some other agencies and making sure that the Halene needs are funneled through.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we certainly appreciate that.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's within that that Governor Stein has asked Congress for an additional$10 billion in Halene recovery funding for things like housing, like you just mentioned, water systems, roads, and support for some of the local governments that are still dealing with some cash flow issues.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: He has stated that without that, about 2,000 families will still be waiting on housing, uh that are still waiting on housing help will go unserved.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do you support his request?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And what would you do if elected to ensure that that this ask and other disaster recovery funding is packaged properly through Congress?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: 100% support that request right there.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh the need is even greater than that.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think Governor Stein's doing what he can.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, Governor Cooper did what he could too.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh um, and I'll work with uh Josh Stein's office in any way, shape, or form to make sure that that goes, but he'll he'll know that uh he has my support and that we need to make sure that the money is is uh given.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just in the fifth district, of course.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, damage was even more horrendous west of here in the 11th district, you know, all the way to past Asheville and to the to the state line.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: So uh um I will back uh Stein and anything that he needs on that.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the other areas that we've seen some of the federal recovery money has come in positive ways through uh economic development uh administration grants that we have seen here recently.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Futures Factory down at Asheville was one of the bigger recipients of that.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: But you look at at opportunities for new facilities and infrastructure, it's a it's a helpful uh component, but it's also very competitive as well.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you are elected, how would you utilize your position to help make sure that the region's story is told in a way that that is uh certainly uh true to the economic conditions, how some of these programs can be helpful and in ensuring that the region is stronger than it was on September 26th of 2024?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm happy to work with the chamber there in Boone, any chamber of commerce.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to work with uh uh local uh government entities uh and uh hear their needs and try and meet them.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's what we have to do, and and work with uh hopefully people on both sides of the aisle in fulfilling these needs, hopefully.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh, you know, that's that's where I stand on that.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you mentioned a second ago that the fifth district is is uh a unique district, it's a large one that that stretches into the Piedmont.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: You have undoubtedly seen a number of and had a number of conversations with people about economic conditions uh throughout the campaign.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Here in western North Carolina, we've still got the added layer of Helene recovery on top of all of the economic struggles that that we currently are seeing and inflation rising costs for businesses and uh gas prices certainly affecting a tourism economy.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how would you make sure that the story is being told accurately in Washington that while Western North Carolina is struggling with what everybody else is, there's still this added layer of Hellen lag that is layered on top of an economy.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: How have you been able to quantify that?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And how would you share that uh if elected up in DC?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, that kind of is one of the uh prime roles of a member of Congress is that bully pulpit, talking to other people, bringing uh uh this uh the needs to uh the floor, bringing it to the attention of other members, working with other members on their needs.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is what we do right here.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh from Greensboro, you know, and I of course I've got about 90% of Greensboro in my district, along with other areas of Guildford, uh, which is uh the Piedmont area urban, and running uh west, essentially, with the the exception of a few counties like Forsythe to all the way to Blowing Rock.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Everywhere I go, the topic, uh the top topic is is affordability.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: People are getting killed by these high gas prices.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the price of food has doubled in the past year, they can't afford rent.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh college students, I've got NCA and T, Appalachian State, and uh UNCG in my district.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: These college students tell me almost routinely that they don't believe that they'll ever be able to own a home.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I think that is a shame.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh the economy is the number one thing that we're facing right now, economic difficulties.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: I would submit almost entirely because of the Trump administration.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we don't need to be in this war in Iran.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we shouldn't have been there.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Trump was warned, he was told that it was going to be difficult to win or get out of, and now we're in that situation.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: We must get out of it.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Strait of Hormuz has to be open.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's one thing.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Another is that uh Donald Trump has inflicted uh illegal tariffs on America, uh saying that we're gonna make all this money on it.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: The truth is the American consumer pays it, it's a tax on Americans.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it makes life more expensive.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's Congress's job and Congress's job alone to levy tariffs.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we will be removing those, I'll guarantee you.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we've got to hold the Trump administration to uh uh to account for the next two years.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's there's that right there.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: But economically, we have to do everything we can to expand the middle class.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: We got to make sure that the working class is no longer uh falling over the edge.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: This also goes to health care.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh right now, people are struggling with when you add in the cost of housing, food, and and fuel, when you see uh inflation in those areas, the already inflated health care situation becomes ever more painful.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: So um clearly I'm outlining uh big things that we've got to work on.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're gonna have to do that in a hurry.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I will add one more thing.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the big beautiful bill that Donald Trump uh had passed a year ago.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: And by the way, Virginia Fox, being chair of the rules committee in the House, could have said no, we're not gonna take a trillion dollars out of Medicaid, we're not gonna take a half a trillion out of Medicare, we're not gonna destroy SNAP, you know, we're not giving uh$50 billion to ICE to be used as uh in the manner that they are using it.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: She could have said no to any of that.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: She did not.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: And uh it's up to Democrats, including myself, working hopefully, hopefully with people across the aisle who don't uh believe these are good things.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh to we we've got to put those money back and monies back in Medicaid, Medicare and SNAP, hot lunches for uh poor kids at school and and food stamps, and we're talking about uh uh medication and doctor's visits for poor people, and we're talking about the elderly.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, this is gonna be economically devastating.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't seen anything yet.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: This bill, uh this foolish bill, will inflict pain that we have never seen.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's my stance.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Getting into another topic that that is of importance in this part of the state as well, uh, many high country employers and crew, including Christmas tree farms, ski resorts, restaurants, hotels, construction crews, especially those rebuilding still after Helene, rely on seasonal immigrant workers, often through legal visa programs.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: How would you balance immigration enforcement with employers' needs for that legal, reliable workforce?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: And what changes, if any, do you foresee wanting to make towards seasonal worker visa programs?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I just did an interview uh last week with WGHP, and this was one of the hot topics right there.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, we've needed for several decades now, what, 30, 40 years to have immigration reform?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that means a pathway to citizen citizenship for people.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: It means working with uh Central America and South America when they're having political instability and social unrest, to uh because naturally, when when those things are going on, what would you and I do with our families if we were in that situation?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, we'd head to what we would saw as the promised land, and that's the United States.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we got to make sure that we have secure borders, and and I uh we don't nobody uh despite what Donald Trump says, nobody wants drug dealers and rapists and murderers in the United States.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta make sure we have a secure border.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but of course 75% of the uh uh of the of the folks who were here illegally, it were were visa overstays.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: They got in quite legally with a visa and they just overstayed their visa.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now, when it comes to uh uh the manual labor we're talking about on Christmas tree farms and so forth, and and here in in Wilts County, uh apple farms, you know, and apple uh apple producer, fruit producer.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now that is uh an issue right there that Donald Trump foolishly did to cut the the the workforce.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of working with these folks, these hardworking people uh who happen just not to look like him.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's part of the issue right there.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: They don't look like him, they don't sound like him.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: They're an easy, uh, what would you say, an easy fall guy for his cruelty.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he can drum up uh support from his his most ardent supporters by being mean to people.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And he he chose them to use them as a boogeyman.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what we have to do is make sure that these people have a pathway to citizenship, a pathway to getting a green card.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're not going to yank them up and send them out of the country to or put them in prison here or send them to prisons in in other countries.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: This is not who we are as America.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: We're not going to uh kidnap people who were on the streets and and and abuse them.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: We have to do this the right way.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: And uh our farmers, our farmers are suffering right now from a lack of uh of labor.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to get worse.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, we we're gonna have to get to work on this immediately.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh looking at another area of of regional interest, you know, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the national forest around it, certainly the backbone of a tourism economy here in the high country.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Recently, the U.S.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Department of Agriculture has proposed rescinding the roadless rule, which of course limits road building and logging on about 152,000 acres of North Carolina's national forest, including the Blue Ridge Parkway.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Supporters are citing wildfire risk and improving forest management, while opponents of this worry about the water quality, scenery, and tourism impacts that this might have.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you stand on the roadless rule issue and how would you work if elected to protect the parkway and other outdoor economy assets that that are intertwined with our national parks?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do everything I can to protect the parkway, to protect the Pisgah National Forest, to protect all of our wild areas.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the people developing this, the the and and the billionaires behind it all, the the people who are gonna make the money, they don't care about those areas.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I love North Carolina.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love our wild areas.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up uh in Wilkes, but fishing uh the high country for brook trout, particularly, the southern Appalachian brook trout, which is a canary in the coal mine, by the way.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: When that's starting to disappear from your stream, there's a problem uh of some sort.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: We can't let that, I mean, the the parkway runs across the the spine of the Blue Ridge.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: These are wild areas with uh endangered species, with uh uh, you know, areas that that Americans enjoy, not just North Carolinians, but all we're not gonna develop that.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Donald Trump and his group, they don't care.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: They don't that it's it's all about money for them, you know.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna protect our our wild areas, absolutely as we kind of twist into education here, um, and and we get at this from a chamber perspective and looking at workforce development trends and and thinking about how those educated workers uh begin to interact with with the various businesses and and uh workforce destinations that they're they're striving for.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've had a local uh program here, Rise Caldwell Watago, which is placing uh high school students in pre-apprenticeship programs.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what is your thought on the opportunities that exist through those pre-apprenticeship and and internship type programs that can give students the opportunity to see and feel a little bit about the workforce pathway they've chosen, rather than having just one particular pathway forced, uh seeing some diversity in that?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And and what's the role in the federal government in supporting programs like these and opportunities for students to learn a little bit about the profession that they want to go into and see that uh in its true form first?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: The federal government's role, my role, is to fund and promote those programs in any way possible.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I think it's fantastic.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, not every uh, you know, like like you said, the the kids have always been preached to that you need to stay in school, go get a college degree, and uh then you get into the workforce, right?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: But uh we ignore a whole bunch of a whole group of kids, a whole segment of of young society.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they they don't necessarily feel like they fit or want to fit in college.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's not their thing, maybe that's not their skill set.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh these internships are fantastic.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: The trade, uh, the trades are gonna be so important in the future.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna, you know, uh you can, for example, I the community colleges are very important to me.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's one of my big things.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Wilts Community College and and has was one of the areas that I covered intensively as publisher of the Wilts Journal Patriot.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, somebody can go to Wilts Community College, become an electrician, a plumber, a uh, or any community college in North Carolina, engage in uh CNC machining, which is into robotics.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they they will come out with a two-year degree or maybe just a certificate, but with the skills to be hired by somebody and learn on the job also about how this really works.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of those folks will will have lucrative, lucrative careers with their families uh in you know, successful, being successful electricians or successful plumbers or successful whatever builders.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: That this is important and uh we need to support that in any way.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's going to be one of the big things going forward.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: When we had the collapse in 2008 with the housing market, community colleges were used to retrain people, particularly in the trades, uh, and and get folks back to work.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: So you had uh displaced textile workers who suddenly were uh making more money uh than they were before.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to encourage this in any way possible.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think I believe in partnerships between community colleges and the schools, between uh, you know tradesmen and the schools.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh let's let's make sure we expose kids to the other opportunities than just going to a four-year school like I did, you know, which was necessary for the line of work I was going to be in as a journalist.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: A quick aside to that is we have seen um the national conversation grow and grow around AI and certainly at the federal level, the potential to regulate that industry.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: But we also see that AI is one of those necessary skills that a lot of different work paths are requiring now, some sort of credential or understanding about how AI may be utilized in those particular industries.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh going back to the regulation side of this, what what do you feel like the federal government's role is in in helping this particular technology industry grow in a way uh that that is responsible?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh is that something the federal government needs to get into or is that best handled, you know, at the more industry level?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Is responsible is the uh is the key.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Word there, you know, and when and particularly when we're talking about AI.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, now I hope nobody's foolish enough to think that AI is not coming.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's here and it's gonna be ever more dominant.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think the uh the question on that is is certainly how we respond as a nation.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and I'm talking about uh as a government.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um right now it's it's uh it is going to be so invasive and gonna replace so many workers and and uh so many it's gonna it's gonna change our economy in ways that are devastating.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, with the AI data centers that are being put up in rural areas with a kind of like a a carrot you offer the uh uh county commissioners, this higher tax base in exchange for putting something in that's un environmentally unsound, is is bad for people who live around it and so forth.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we've got about 5,400 of them already in the United States.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we're gonna have to, I believe, have a two-year moratorium on on the AI data centers.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, of course, we all know the revelations here recently about AI and the and the uh not only, I mean the the creators of AI are talking about uh a permanent underclass.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's what the that's the term they use, of of people who are uh displaced from their jobs.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we've also heard revelations about the fact that AI could have catastrophic results for humanity.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have to slow down development and but at the same time realize that uh this this is gonna be integrated in what we do going forward.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean it's it's a uh it's a this is kind of a nuanced answer, isn't it?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I I we're we're gonna have to AI is going to be um infused throughout society, including in the trades, including in in the workforce.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh how we do it is is very, very important.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we want to make sure that these uh things are not these AI bots, these AI agents are not learning beyond their ability to be controlled.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and that's that is the crucial point right there.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And and even, I mean, my God, when Elon Musk uh when he expresses concerns, that really says something right there because he doesn't seem to care about much else.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that that does it for the prepared questions that we've got for you.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just kind of in closing, anything that you would like to share that maybe we didn't cover, or just anything that you'd like to let those that are in the the business community know about how you would uh plan to represent them in Washington?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I uh my family uh owned the Wilkes Journal Patriot for uh well more than a hundred years.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was third generation in it.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a small business guy.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: We had uh dedicated employees who worked there, some of them.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: We actually had some who even worked there nearly 50 years.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh I understand your needs uh as a business community, and uh I had the same uh struggles meet meeting a payroll, uh making sure that we have uh proper health care, that our employees are looked after, that they're properly remunerated.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, so I'm I'm on your side.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: I want to see Main Street expand.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: I want to see uh uh small businesses become medium-sized businesses, even become large businesses.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: This is what I want.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is a healthy America.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have that going on right now.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: For 45 years, we've seen uh the middle class shrinking.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen the working class gradually sliding over the edge.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we'll make these choices now, and some of them hard choices, uh, and uh or else we we go down like the Titanic.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so I I I am highly aware as you are that decisions are coming out of the White House uh that are that are not in in the interests of Americans, that are not in the interests of of rank and file voters.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my job in Congress is to be a balance to that.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's that it that literally is is Congress's job.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: So um I want to work and do everything I possibly can to build up our our uh educational system, make sure that it functions in a real world sense.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: I want to make sure that uh people are are that salaries are getting better and that uh particularly the minimum wage, we we're gonna have to raise that.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I want to make sure that that folks no longer feel helpless before you know an inundation of of debt and uh and expenses.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I want to represent you in Congress.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't believe you've had representation in this to this degree for 21 years.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I I look forward to it.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm asking for your vote, and I really thank you for the opportunity to be here and speak with you.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: And sorry I couldn't be there in person, you know, but uh we'll do it next time.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we we certainly appreciate your time as well and and uh appreciate your willingness to put your name on the ballot.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: We we know that that's no small feat in these political climates that we find ourselves in.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: So best of luck on the campaign, and we look forward to talking to you in the future.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: That concludes this special edition of Mind Your Business.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribers of our podcast will see these full archives for each of our individual candidate interviews, as well as the full archives of our in-person forum, broken down by race, all available on your podcast platform of choice, a benefit of being a subscriber.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can also visit Boonechamber.com for a link to our Mind Your Business archives, and we'll have a post on our main page with full access to these archives as well.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks to the staff and volunteers of the Boone Area and Bulling Rock Chambers of Commerce for making this forum possible.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your interest in our local elections, and we encourage you to cast your ballot and have your voice heard in this 2026 general election.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm David Jackson.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: So long, everybody.