RALEIGH — A recent town hall held in Asheville by North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards (R-Flat Rock) featured profanity, an ejection and plenty of confrontation.
While Edwards (R-Flat Rock) attempted to give a set of remarks at the outset of the March 13 event, individuals in the crowd began shouting over him. One man, Jay Carey, stood up and started screaming at Edwards, using extensive profanity.
At the start of his interruption, Carey yelled that he was a veteran, but he’s more than that: Carey challenged Edwards for his seat in 2022, failing to progress past the Democratic primary. After losing in the congressional primary, Carey then lost to Republican Tim Moffitt for the District 48 state Senate seat.
Carey has been a member of the Henderson County Democratic Party, and his wife, Leslie, is also involved in the Henderson Democratic Party as the party’s chair.
Carey also runs a new organization called “Resist & Persist,” which is described as a “dedicated veteran issue advocacy non-profit committed to amplifying the voices of those who have served our country.”
Edwards told North State Journal he feels the media coverage of the town hall has been unfair and unbalanced.
“We put together our news clips every single day and just scouring through the headlines, I find that that story is so distorted and really is presented in a way to inflame Americans,” Edwards said. “And it’s adding to the divisiveness that we see politically.”
Edwards was frustrated by media “rewarding Mr. Carey with so much air time only because he was disruptive in a public event and using profanities.”
Carey has not responded to an inquiry by North State Journal.
Edwards said there have been no credible threats made toward him that would require extra protection, but he said his office has sometimes received thousands of vulgar messages a single day.
Earlier in the day of the Asheville town hall, however, Edwards — who was presenting a $41 million grant in Canton — said police had to get involved when a man became physically threatening.
“I had a threat from the crowd there,” Edwards said of the Canton visit. “In fact, the police department, they took me by each arm and steered me in one direction. They took the fellow making the threats by each arm and led him in another direction.”
Edwards is not the only North Carolina elected official to see an uptick in disruptive or violent threats.
Last week, North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis released audio of phone calls placed to his offices containing profane language and violent threats.
One caller describes taking a “f–king axe handle” to Tillis’ head and “his kids’ heads and his grandkids’ heads” before calling him “treasonous.” Another caller wished diseases on Tillis and his family, while another called the senator “Southern white trash.”
Democrat Associate Justice Allison Riggs and her opponent in the still-undecided N.C. Supreme Court race, Judge Jefferson Griffin, have received threats.
Attorney Blannie Miller, a spokesperson for the Griffin family, said threats to Griffin have continued despite the announcement of the death of their infant daughter, who was born 23 weeks prematurely.
“We respectfully ask the perpetrators of this relentless harassment campaign to end it,” said Miller, adding that the family asks for “request peace and privacy at their home while they mourn the death of their daughter” and while Griffin’s wife recuperates.
North Carolina Judicial Branch Communications Director Graham Wilson confirmed that an investigation is underway into the threats to Griffin and Riggs.
Elected officials are not the only ones experiencing threats. At least one incident of “swatting” occurred in in the Buncombe County town of Weaverville during the morning hours of March 16.
Matt Van Swol, a western North Carolinian who has been vocal on social media about the federal government’s response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, and his family were the victims of the swatting. The criminal act sends an armed law enforcement response to a residence based on a false claim of violence at the location.
Van Swol wrote on X, “I am being swatted right now,” and then later wrote, “A call was made saying that I had murdered my wife, and I was hiding in the basement with a gun.”
The Weaverville Police Department (WPD) stated on Facebook regarding the swatting incident, which lines up with Van Swol’s account of the call that was made to police.
“Thanks to the officer’s calm and rational assessment, the situation was de-escalated swiftly and safely, revealing that no crime had taken place,” the WPD statement reads in part.
The swatting activity has drawn the attention of the FBI, with the agency’s Director Kash Patel issuing a statement on X that his agency is aware and “taking action to investigate and hold those responsible accountable.”
A U.S. House Oversight Committee subcommittee has also opened an investigation into the swattings.
