Hubbard and Creekmore Face Off in an Appstate Town Hall

 

Jack Yordy, guest-posting:

On Thursday, I attended an event hosted by the College Democrats of Appalachian State University with special guests Chuck Hubbard and Kyah Creekmore: the Democratic candidates for the 5th congressional district of North Carolina.

I’ve known of Mr. Hubbard since his run for Virginia Foxx’s seat in 2024. While somewhat awkward initially and slow to talk about himself, he struck me as a well-meaning man interested in serving the people of this district. The first time I met him, he told me about his daughter and her wife, and about how worried he was for them in the post-Roe vs. Wade America. Chuck didn’t strike me as a progressive but certainly not as a centrist ideologue or ‘do-nothing-democrat’ either. Over the last two years I’ve watched him evolve as a candidate, building out his operation and beginning to grow into what might be a unique campaign brand. Though there’s a lot he could do to improve, I would be happy to see him win our blood-red district. He’s never failed to show up for us in Watauga and at App State when asked, and it’s clear to me that he cares about the people of this district.

Kyah I had not known until very recently, when he showed up uninvited to a town hall for Chuck Hubbard late last semester after apparently ignoring prior outreach by the App College Democrats. My first impression of Kyah was, therefore, not great, but I am not one to rule out ambitious young people who make mistakes. After checking out his social media and website, I reached out to him to express my disappointment and let him know that I felt his actions reflected poorly on other young people attempting to run for office. He apologized and explained that he had not ignored the College Democrats outreach, rather that he had unfortunately missed their correspondence and had made the assumption, upon seeing the College Dems’ post about a town hall with Chuck, that they were deliberately leaving him out. He expressed regret for making this assumption and resolved to do better.

I was skeptical, especially when I saw “Democratic Socialist” in his bio on Instagram. Though I lean toward that side of the party, after his assumption that there was some kind of establishment plot by the App State College Democrats to leave him out of their event, I worried that he might take a hostile (and unnecessary) posture toward local parties and auxiliaries. I was very glad to see him return to App State in a different context Thursday evening. Some candidates might have decided their efforts would be better spent elsewhere after a bad first impression, but not Kyah.

Leading up to the discussion between the two candidates, I was open-minded. I think Chuck Hubbard is a good man, and that he would be a good congressman who would contribute to the progressive agenda. I think Kyah is a highly passionate, unique, and intelligent communicator, and though he’s a bit of a wildcard, I believe we need more young progressives running for office. I was wondering if tonight, he would show me he’s the kind of young person we need winning those races.

The event was a success. The College Democrats achieved the highest turnout I’ve seen at a meeting at least since 2024. The participants were very engaged and asked questions for nearly an hour. The discussion by the candidates was in-depth, respectful, and interesting. I was very surprised by Chuck Hubbard’s performance. My frank expectation was that Kyah would outflank him by speaking to the progressive moment, and while Kyah is no doubt the most progressive candidate in the race, Chuck looks like a pragmatic but passionate progressive. The only issue I took with Chuck was his support of Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House, though he lambasted Chuck Schumer and stated emphatically, “He’s got to go.” Kyah brought the typical young left-wing energy and analysis. His communication style and some of his novel policy proposals, while perhaps over-ambitious or even extreme, impressed me and, I think, the room. I walked out of the event feeling grateful that we have two strong, progressive candidates running in this race. I will keep my voting intentions private, and while I have thoughts on who the stronger candidate to beat Virginia Foxx is, I would be happy with either of these gentlemen representing the 5th district in Congress.

Below are my unedited notes from the town hall:

Did Virginia Foxx kill her neighbor?

Kyah: She’s a Karen, annoying, riled up, snitch, bad neighbor - not someone you want to be in community with. Policymaking: she sides with predators and billionaires in Epstein files

Chuck: Virginia didn’t let neighbor cross her property. Road had not been fixed and neighbor had a 4-wheeler accident. We’re supposed to look after our neighbors and be good neighbors, she isn’t. She was fired from App State. Helene- Virginia damaged FEMA

Criticism of Democratic Party: low integrity, not aggressive enough pushing back against GOP. Do you guys have the confidence to maintain a strong integrity while playing aggressively against GOP?

Chuck: If you don’t have integrity you don’t have much. You have to be able to believe what I say, that’s important to me. Also, we are too passive and we need to fight GOP. I spent my whole career in journalism promoting the truth.

Kyah: Integrity is absolutely pivotal. We have two parties full of people who could care less about integrity. Grandstanding on LGBTQ+ and abortion but no ideas on how to fix it or make stronger legislation to safeguard our rights. They didn’t do roe v wade protection or Medicare for all--Obama got nothing done. Centrist Democrats block legislation. Israel-- we send our money to bomb children and centrist Dems vote for that but never for healthcare or helping Americans. We can do so much more as a minority. Force impeachments. Stand for something! Fascist collaborators.

Labor Unions and Workers Rights

Chuck: Pro labor, endorsed by AFL - CIO - largest labor union in the US. NC is tough for labor, 2nd least organized labor state in America. We must improve that. Union wages are living wages. Protect labor

Kyah: Largest reforms we’ve ever seen have come through a strong labor movement. Our country has gutted labor unions. “immigrants taking our jobs,” no -- corporations cutting jobs. Replacing with AI. Creating a workers constitution: Guaranteed worker rights. Breaking up monopolies.

Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker?

Chuck: Yes. He’s served his time, done his time. He’s going to be speaker, I don’t necessarily like everything he does, but I respect him and the time he’s put into congress.

Kyah: He’s a joke. He’s the reason Trump is doing what he’s doing right now. We need people that actually want to fight. Where is his presence? Ro Khanna would be a better leader as an example. Chuck Schumer also has to go. We need new leadership.

Chuck: Chuck Schumer is a different matter. He needs to step down. Cory Booker is fantastic and becoming a central voice for the party.

Abolish ICE?

Kyah: We should abolish and prosecute every lawless, murderous ICE agent. Make sure they never get roles in government again.

Chuck: First we need to take away their money - $50 billion is larger than the FBI. Dismantle ICE. Fund a new agency under proper rules or rebuild it constitutionally. They’re Trump’s private police - Nazi Germany parallel. It’s a priority for me to deal with ICE and create a pathway to citizenship that is not cruel.

Kyah: ICE budget larger than most countries entire militaries. We need to also redirect those funds. Criticism of high military spending-- redirect toward social programs. For-profit prisons.

Reproductive rights

Chuck: Completely pro-choice. Absolutely determined to codify roe vs. wade.

Kyah: The demographics in congress is 53+ older, senate is 63+ older - menopause. Women and Men in congress do not know what’s going on there and it does not affect them. Health proposal: People’s health and rescue act. 3 free abortions a year.

3rd trimester abortions

Kyah: I’ve had to experience an abortion. It was hard but I understand people have abortions out of necessity- just like crime. They’re doing this because it’s in their best interest and in the best interest of the baby. The woman should get to choose.

Chuck: Third trimester abortions are extraordinarily rare.

Question for Kyah: As a minority, what does it take to be the next representative of this district?

Putting yourself out there and realizing the importance of the message. Friend passed away and told him not to be afraid. Trying to represent the right ideas, values, and principles.

What does a pathway to citizenship look like?

Chuck: make sure that people who are here undocumented already have a humane way to apply for asylum first and citizenship later (instead of having to leave the country first). We need secure borders but also a pathway to citizenship

Kyah: We need some kind of reform. At one point we didn’t have borders and we were very safe, we didn’t used to have a wall. We need a very fast immigration process-- less than one year. We have a lack of judges and lack of funding. That funding could come from ICE’s budget. My grandma was on a green card and it took her so long, maybe decades, to get citizenship -- it has to be faster.