Election Day is Nov. 5. Candidates representing Watauga County are running in national, state and local races. The Appalachian curated responses to questions on policy positions of candidates in the various offices.
The questions and responses below are curated from the Boone and Blowing Rock chambers of commerce “Meet the Candidates” forum held in the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country on Monday.
Candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, North Carolina House of Representatives, Watauga County Board of Education and the Watauga County Board of Commissioners were questioned by a panel of moderators and given time for opening and closing statements.
Candidates for the United States House of Representatives district 5 attended the Meet the Candidates forum on Monday.
Moderators asked Democrat Chuck Hubbard questions on national, state and local policies. Incumbent Republican Virignia Foxx did not attend the Meet the Candidates event.
The moderators gave Hubbard two minutes for an opening and closing statement and 90 seconds for responses to questions.
The Appalachian compiled Hubbard’s responses to various questions. The questions listed and the responses are shortened for brevity.
What do you feel like the role of ambition and goal setting should be in politics?
Hubbard said the United States needs to pass more innovative, consequential policies and legislation, such as adding a nationwide, public-option health care system.
“Families are being eaten alive with the cost of insurance and medications,” Hubbard said. “It’s doable — every country in the West has done it, and it’s insane the United States has not done that, and that people are bankrupted over medical expenses.”
Hubbard praised the Biden Administration for championing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
“That was a pretty good deal right there,” Hubbard said. “We need more of it.”
How would you work to ensure H2A visas be protected and reformed?
Hubbard said the federal government should streamline the process to obtain work visas and condemned Donald Trump’s rhetoric surrounding immigrants.
“Donald Trump has demonized our immigrant population, demonized people who come here to work,” Hubbard said.
He said Trump’s plans to deport millions of immigrants lacking permanent legal status in the United States would shrink available labor for agriculture and cause “rapid inflation.”
Describe your philosophy on inflation and keeping it affordable for families to live?
Hubbard said the Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday to lower interest rates by 0.5% will continue to slow inflation, which has lowered to 2.5% after peaking at 7% in June 2022.
“That’s going to keep inflation down right there,” Hubbard said. “In areas where you have a high tourist population, you’re going to have some inflation; it’s going to be a bit more expensive.”
If elected, what would you champion to lessen the cost of living?
To lessen the cost of living, Hubbard said the federal government needs to lower costs of health care, child care and medications.
“Health care is one of the biggest causes of family distress,” Hubbard said. “If mom or dad or a couple people get sick within a year, we’re talking about a $16,000 burden, we’re talking about medications that are outrageously priced. That’s unacceptable right there.”
Hubbard said he supports Vice President Kamala Harris’s plan to provide parents of newborns with $6,000 and the Biden Administration’s $35 cap on insulin.
What are your priorities when it comes to the balance of preservation and modernization in Western North Carolina?
Hubbard said he will fight the effects of climate change to preserve the environment and its well-being.
“I grew up around here on the Blue Ridge Parkway,” Hubbard said. “I have great love for the parkway, the outdoors, the Smoky Mountains.”
What would you do to reach out to the other side to make progress?
Hubbard said he’s willing to work with anyone who wants positive things for the U.S., regardless of party affiliation.
“The theatrical politics doesn’t work for me,” Hubbard said. “I’m there to do a serious job for you people here, for my family, for the people of the United States and the state of North Carolina.”
Hubbard said Congress needs working class citizens like himself elected to break the partisan “deadlock” and prioritize the well-being of U.S. residents.
Do you support non-car infrastructure?
Hubbard said he supports development of non-car infrastructure where its addition would be viable.
“I have yet to see how that’s going to work in more rural areas, but I will do anything we can to develop mass transit in a way that’s clean and that serves a large population.”
Hubbard cited Charlotte’s Lynx Blue Line light rail system as a successful endeavor in non-car infrastructure.
What would your first priority be when elected?
Hubbard said if the democrats hold both houses after the election, he will vote with Harris to codify Roe v. Wade into law after the Supreme Court overturned the case in 2022.
“We’ll put it on her desk and she’ll sign it,” Hubbard said.
What do you feel like a healthy rural North Carolina looks like from Washington D.C.?
Hubbard said a healthy rural North Carolina would compare to the state he experienced during his upbringing through high wages and entrepreneurship.
“We had many jobs for local folks,” Hubbard said. “It was possible at that time to leave high school without going to college, become a supervisor at a plant and have a middle class existence. That’s virtually gone away.”
What is something that surprised you from the campaign trail?Hubbard said he was surprised at the amount of confrontations with opposing constituents on the campaign trail.
“Until you see it up front, you don’t understand the vitriol people will throw at you,” Hubbard said.
At one festival, Hubbard said a woman disrespected him and his wife because of their party affiliation, claiming Democrats were “pedophilic and abusive to children.”
“There’s certain people you cannot talk to — they will not hear what you have to say,” Hubbard said. “I still try to speak to those people and move on.”
