‘We need to protest.’ GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards faces heated crowd at Western NC town hall
Facing near-constant jeers and boos from the audience, Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards answered questions about Ukraine, Elon Musk and federal layoffs at a town hall Thursday evening.
Hundreds of protesters gathered before, during and after Edwards’ town hall at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, expressing anger over federal cuts and layoffs, President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the war in Ukraine.
Edwards took questions from the audience for over an hour, sometimes struggling to answer above the noise. Police escorted one protester out of the building at Edwards’ instruction after he yelled expletives at the congressman.
The second-term congressman from Waynesville held the town hall despite many Republicans — including House Speaker Mike Johnson — urging against the events after many GOP lawmakers found theirs inundated with protesters.
“There are a lot of folks around the country right now that have chosen, for one reason or another, to not do that,” Edwards said. “One of the things that I’m most proud of in my privilege to serve you as the congressman from N.C. 11, is my accessibility to the public.
“Why not do a town hall? I’m accountable to the people in Western North Carolina.”
While the audience applauded his willingness to show up, Edwards’ town hall was filled almost entirely with dissatisfied constituents.
Nearly every attendee stood and clapped for certain questions that criticized Trump, Musk or Edwards. At one point, Edwards asked the crowd for quiet while he tried to get through an answer, and said attendees could “boo,” and “hiss,” afterward. The silence lasted less than 10 seconds.
Outside, hundreds more who didn’t fit in the auditorium booed and chanted while Edwards spoke.
Despite the interruptions, Edwards answered most questions and told reporters afterward he would do it again.
“I really appreciated the opportunity to be here,” he said. “I appreciated the energy that I heard from the folks here… even though they might disagree with me, even though they might disagree with President Trump.
“I certainly appreciated the opportunity to talk about how I believe that President Trump and Republicans are living up to the promises that we made last election.”
Elon Musk, federal layoffs
Many protesters held signs criticizing Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). One attendee asked Edwards to “name five things” he did that week to help his constituents, a reference to the department’s February email requesting some federal employees to outline five things they did in their jobs that week.
Though Edwards acknowledged the judge’s ruling made earlier Thursday that required some U.S. agencies to reinstate thousands of federal employees laid off by Trump, he mostly expressed support for increased “government efficiency,” and finding ways to save the federal government money.
“There are about 2 million federal employees that you are paying for every single year. (The) government has bloated exponentially since the pandemic,” Edwards said. “I believe that we owe it to the taxpayers to go and look for efficiencies that are out there.”
Edwards repeated some misleading claims made by Trump and Musk about government spending. That included the claim that too much grant money was going to fund Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and that federal dollars were spent to make mice transgender, the latter of which has been fact checked as false.
Helene recovery
Few questions were asked about Hurricane Helene recovery efforts by the moderator or audience members, though Edwards took time at the beginning of his town hall to discuss his work since the storm in his district. Efforts include creating a hotline for people struggling to get help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and his authorship of the $110 billion disaster relief bill signed by former President Joe Biden.
“These billions of dollars… will do much to supercharge our recovery here, from restoring I-40 to its pre-storm condition with enhanced resiliency measures, to getting thousands of downed trees off the ground in the Pisgah Forest, Great Smoky Mountains forest, to prevent future wildfires,” Edwards said. “The state that I see us in now is my responsibility to help get the money out of the doors in Washington, D.C. into the hands here in Western North Carolina.”
Ukraine
Attendees asked numerous questions about the war in Ukraine and expressed dissatisfaction with Trump’s interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his decisions over military aid to Ukraine. Edwards called Putin a “murderous dictator,” and said he disagreed with the characterization of Trump as sympathetic to Russia.
“I believe that the president is very supportive of Ukraine. I believe the president recognizes that Putin is a murderous dictator,” he said. “I also believe that we see the author of “The Art of the Deal” working his magic to try to create a situation where folks would come to the negotiating table that might not otherwise do that.”
Edwards said he would support a deal with Ukraine to bring minerals and oil to the United States in order to recoup the cost of aid, but also that he will always vote in support of Ukraine.
“I had an opportunity to look into the weeping eyes of widows that had lost their sons and husbands from the invasion of Ukraine, and I came back committed that the world cannot stand idly by and watch the type of evil taking place that we see taking place over there,” he said.
‘We need to protest’
Barbara St. Hilaire, a 63-year-old Asheville resident, said she came to the town hall to protest Trump’s federal layoffs and program cuts.
“He is destroying our democracy and our country, and he is dismantling it so quickly that we can’t even respond to one thing before the next shoe drops,” she said. “And they’re not even shoes, they’re bombs.
“We need to protest,” she said. “We need to stand up for what we believe in, and what we believe in are the government agencies that support the middle class and the lower class.”
St. Hilaire said she believes Edwards is a good person, and said she would vote for him if he pushed back against the cuts.
“He is brave to even have this town hall. He was told not to, and here he is. I hope he understands that his constituency is greater than just the Republican supporters,” she said. “If he pivots and protests against these cuts and joins with the American people, I will vote for him. I’m not looking for somebody who believes everything I believe, I’m looking for somebody who supports our country.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 10:25 PM with the headline "‘We need to protest.’ GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards faces heated crowd at Western NC town hall."
