Welcome back to Left of Old North. I am your
co -host, CJ, and today we have with us the one,
the only, Chuck Hubbard. Now, Chuck Hubbard is
running in NC Congressional District 5 against
longtime incumbent Virginia Fox. And native of
Wilkes County, we are excited to have him on
the show. Thank you, thank you, thank you for
coming on and for running against us. Running
against Fox herself. Thank you guys for having
me on. It means the world. Thank you. It's a
pleasure. Yeah. Now, I guess, you know, for those
who aren't necessarily super familiar with Congressional
District 5 or with you yourself, just maybe a
little intro. All right. My name's Chuck Hubbard.
I run for Congress against Virginia Fox, obviously.
I'm a former newspaper publisher of the Wilkes
Journal Patriot in North Wilkesboro. It's my
family's paper. My grandfather founded that after
the First World War, actually. He was a printer's
devil and decided that, you know, I can do this.
And so he founded it, and that paper helped him
to survive. It promoted my father and his brother
and my uncle. And, you know, and then I came
in with my family members. You know, it was a
wonderful endeavor. It's an example of the American
dream coming true in a family's life. I know
it's a tough race. You know, I ran against her
last November. We gave her the hardest race she
has ever had. And I am determined to put her
out of office. in 2026 and uh and we're doing
the work to get it done now uh the the district
that a lot of people may be familiar with was
the one that included forsyth county and yadkin
and few counties like that but in october of
2023 a gerrymander occurred and i often say a
funny thing happened on the way to the gerrymander
you know they they removed forsyth county and
yadkin and avery mitchell from my county from
my district but they dropped in the entire city
of greensboro minus about 10 or something like
that so uh that really gave us uh you know 150
000 more votes or something like that you know
and then they added in rocket ham county which
though that is uh and i hate to mention his name
here phil burgers uh uh home county uh but it
also has large spots of blue in it and then it
runs west you know, through Wilkes into Watauga
County, which itself is pretty blue with Appalachian
there and so forth. And that's it. We got Stokes,
Allegheny, Ashe, and, you know, Caldwell, Alexander.
It changed the nature of the district is what
it did. It went from a tough one to win to one
that's very much winnable. If we do the work
and get people to come out, we can't have Democrats
sitting home this November like they did last
time around. Or November 2026, excuse me. 100
% agree. And again, thank you for going up against
her. I mean, I know it's... uh again it's a tough
race but like you said it's definitely a winnable
one at this point and i'm i'm very excited to
see what happens but you know i guess one of
my first things that i kind of wonder is how
do you go up against someone like virginia fox
you know someone who has been in congress as
long as she has going on her 12th term right
this this would be her 12th if she manages to
pull one more out yeah she was elected 2005,
the first time and sworn in 2006. So, yeah, I
mean, the truth is, is her record under undoes
her. You know, I mean, basically she has done
what she did in the North Carolina General Assembly,
which is follow what leadership says, do exactly
that. And then you rise, you know, and that's
that's kind of what she's done right there. I
mean, some people fall down. She seems to fall
up. She's now managed to. to make herself the,
or leadership has made her the chair of the rules
committee. This big, beautiful bill that they're
considering the Senate that came over from the
house. She had to approve of every last bit of
that. She didn't object to any of it. She hailed
the passage of it. So I want to tell you something
right now, you know, we can make her own that.
And we have to make her own her record. And her
record rides right against the middle class,
against the working class and supports billionaires.
So I mean that she has used her position in Congress
to to threaten vulnerable populations of our
nation, not just North Carolina, not just my
district, but the United States as a whole now.
And, you know, it's my job to. to point that
out to people and give them a choice. Do you
like what you see? You guys might remember, do
you remember, I guess, December of 23 when she
was yelling shut up at people on the floor of
Congress? Y 'all remember? Oh, yeah. I think
that was right after Mike Johnson, right after
his election, you know, the disreputable. It
was upsetting, and we received interest from
all 50 states at that point, every last state.
So that's the vision that we had to put forward.
That's it right there. I had to do the work.
I started into the last race with name recognition
in Wilkesboro and Wilkes County, and I ended
up with name recognition in 10 counties. Including
all of Greensboro. And so, I mean, this is what
we have. We have this to build upon. And that's
what we're going to do. And you had a pretty
impressive gain from previous Democratic candidates
that had run in that district. I think you gained,
I think, almost five points compared to the previous
Democratic candidate. And during a year in which
Trump increased his lead in North Carolina compared
to his last race. So you feel pretty good about
2026, it seems. I do. You know, I don't think,
you know, that a lot of us saw a red wave coming.
I don't think even most of the pundits. I mean,
there might have been some trepidation right
at the end, but I think overall nobody really
saw it coming. Right. I mean, because at the
end of the day, who in the world would think
that Donald Trump would be elected twice, much
less once? You know, so I think that was a bit
of reality that was hard to swallow. And that
was the situation. It was kind of a drag on our
race, too. I think when the top of the ticket
loses, it's kind of a drag down the ticket. But,
you know, I do feel confident. Six months of
Donald Trump has been six months of a continual
drama show, nightmare, attack on law and order,
attack on citizens and his endless. I think Tim
Miller doesn't call it. He doesn't call it tweeting.
He calls it bleeding. So I think Donald Trump's
endless bleeding. You know, look at what happened
to Tom Tillis this week. Right. You know, I will
tell you something. Now, Tom Tillis, I probably
wouldn't agree with a whole heck of a lot that
he has to say in terms of policy. And I find
it hard to believe that I'm saying what I'm getting
ready to say. But I got to congratulate the man
for standing up, you know, and saying this budget
is bad. This bill is terrible, you know. And
now, of course, Donald Trump threatened the primary
and he. Said, I'm not going to run. But that
also gives him another, what, year or so, something
like that, a year and a half or so to raise a
little cane, maybe actually vote his conscience
for a change. But that's, you know, we have to
drive these points home. This is damaging to
you folks right down on the ground. And people
are feeling pain. And they will feel more pain,
unfortunately. Economically, these tariffs are
terrible. We warned in the last election that
this was a tax on everyday people. And people
are going to find that out. It really does seem
like, and as you mentioned, Virginia Fox is the
chair of the Rules Committee. It really does
seem like if that was the case in this 900 -some
-odd -page document, that she was really just
kind of pencil -whipping through those, if even
that. And I guess the question would be, where
do you see yourself? Say you win in November
2026. Say you win against Virginia Fox. Where
do you see yourself in the mix of trying to undo
some of these things that the Trump administration
has put forward and Virginia Fox has helped facilitate?
Right, right. The first thing is, of course,
is to win the House. And God willing, I think
we will win the House. I think it's going to
be significant. And then, God willing, we win
the Senate. There are a few vulnerable races,
including the one here in North Carolina. It's
definitely a big pickup opportunity. Hillis was
vulnerable anyway. So we'll see what happens.
I think we'll win that seat. And I think that
the Senate's in play. That's first to first right
there. And we've got to put ourselves in the
position where we can combat Donald Trump on
a daily basis. and act as a bulwark against his
worst instincts and looking toward 2028 and getting
a Democrat in the White House. This is what has
to be done right here. And in terms of Virginia
Fox's behavior and the damage that's been done
by Republicans, one thing that some of it may
take a while to undo. If we're talking about
a budget bill that destroys Medicaid. Snap attacks
Medicare, you know, and also with with decisions
that have been made through Doge, you know, whatever
in the actual hell that is, you know, I mean,
that's was an absurdity. But to close down Social
Security offices in all 50 state states and to
attack the Veterans Administration, these things
are going to take a while to to fix. But I mean.
With Democrats in control of the House and hopefully,
hopefully to God, we get a veto proof majority
in the Senate, you know, and, you know, then
we undo the damage that's been done right there.
I'm, you know, like I say, Virginia Foxx does
not. She's not an original thinker. He's not
going to be out there being creative. She's just
doing what she's told. I would be willing to
bet you dollars to donuts. She does even know
what all's in that bill. I'd be willing to bet
even more donuts, a baker's dozen, that none
of them really actually read the bill. Which
is something I find crazy right there. That's
crazy. I mean, Marjorie Taylor Greene herself
gave the game away when she didn't even realize
that the 10 -year AI moratorium was even in the
bill. I mean, what does it say about a bill when
Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized it? It doesn't
matter. You already voted for it. But picture
this for a moment. You know, I mean, your voters,
the ones you convince to vote for you are a lot
of them on Medicaid. A lot of them receive food
assistance. How about tearing apart the Department
of Public Instruction? Let's try that one on
for size right there. What's the most important
instrument toward moving the society ahead? It
is public education and the government. Takes
that away from its people. You have done irreparable
harm. Those are things that we can fix. And I
think the Department of Public Education is going
to fix pretty quick. Yeah. I mean, I think it
says a lot about, I guess, kind of the content
of her character that, you know, Virginia Fox
herself was a or is a former educator. She's
been on the Education Committee and all that
stuff. Yeah, exactly. Quotes. But she's fine
with just dismantling the system. But, you know,
the thing is, public school, like you said, that's
the keystone. That's the foundation of a society.
That's how we progress. That's how we grow. That's
how we get to the next step. It's foundational,
yes. Exactly. And if it's not foundational, show
me a society in the world that gets ahead without
good public education. You can't. There isn't
one. Europe has strong public education throughout
pretty much, you know, and they've moved ahead.
And I feel like we're lagging. I feel like we
have been lagging. attacks on right on on on
schools is you know of course look at the north
carolina alone these school vouchers you know
that take billions away from public schools what
what if that money was what if the voucher program
was ended and that money went toward kids toward
improving facilities toward improving curriculums
what if that you know um and that look at that
done in in uh all red states what if what if
uh those changes were made Well, they wouldn't
be red states for long. You have a challenging
district, to say the least, not just because
it's held by an incumbent, but also because a
lot of those counties, as you previously mentioned,
are pretty red. I think a lot of the anxiety
around some Democrats, some more left leaning
Democrats included, or people that wouldn't otherwise
vote in a primary in an off year election. Might
be concerned that someone who runs in these districts
would play more of the bipartisanship card. And
I'm kind of curious as to how you think of that.
And as an addendum to that, is something is that
something that that is necessary for a Democrat
to do to run in a place like your district? Well,
certainly you're going to have to appeal, have
a broad appeal. Right. You know, and your opponents.
record is going to have to reflect certain behaviors,
right? The opponent's record part of it, I've
got covered because behavior is what it is, you
know, and her votes have been what they are.
You know, I'll say this. In our district, as
with the entire state of North Carolina, I think
it's about one -third are unaffiliated voters.
X amount of those are going to be people who
became disenchanted with the Republican Party.
Maybe have an even more libertarian bent. And
X amount of those are going to be people who
became disenchanted with our party. Or maybe
young people who have become disenchanted with
party politics in general. So at the end of the
day, when I go out and talk to people, It's very,
very clear that we all have certain goals in
mind for our lives. We've got to pay the bills,
put food on the table, make sure that the children
are taken care of. Make sure, you know, is it
too outrageous for families to expect to have
a vacation once a year? These are all things
we can talk about here. We can talk about, you
know, did you like your high school? You know,
are you still a fan of your high school? What
if that goes away? I mean, these are all things
that are communicable right here with people.
And so I think that where Republicans have always
gotten us is this fear of the other bit. You
know, I mean, they want to come out and stomp
up and down. Virginia Fox has been good at this,
calling people socialists. Oh, they're different.
They're socialist or they're a bunch of communists.
When in truth... There is no truth to that. She
did the same thing with me. I mean, you're talking
about the publisher of a newspaper in Wilkes
County, and she was calling me a left -leaning
socialist. I mean, and my wife's a retired state
trooper. I mean, it just was a joke. I'm sure
there'd be a lot of people in certain areas that
would be very happy if that were the case. But
like you said, it's not based in truth. Right.
And if you and they come along and say, you know,
these gay people are threatening the fabric of
your family. These transgender people are threatening
to pollute your schools. You know, these people
who don't worship God in the same way that you
do are a threat to your way of life. Now, they
use that. They beat that drum. None of that's
true. None of it's true. But they beat that drum.
And so and are able to sow those types of. seeds
of division. It's my job, I believe in that sense,
to be a healer, you know, to try and heal this
divide as best I can. And I've had a lot of good
conversations with people of every stripe who,
you know, they don't always know what they want,
but they know they don't want the way things
are. So I'm offering them a different direction.
Nice. I think they really just go after that
fear of the other, as you mentioned. As we've
said before on this podcast several times, they
know their policies are awful. They know their
policies are unpopular. They know that if people
are able to focus on what they are, They would
lose so many votes if people realized what's
in this, you know, big, beautiful bill. Instead
of worrying that, you know, some random person
is going to take their job whenever that's not
the case. They knew what was in the bill and
weren't distracted by that. Yeah, that's so many
fewer votes for Republicans. Well, picture this,
you know, for a moment, what they had to convince
people. You know, we're talking about people
who are supporting billionaires, right? People
who don't need a tax break. people who are the
richest of the rich, the top, let's say the top
5%, right? But a lot of these are directed at
the top 1%, but the top 5%, let's say. What do
you have to do to get people down on the ground,
middle class and working class people, to support
that nonsense right there? What you have to do
is distract them with this other stuff, this
emotional stuff and threats about their way of
life that are not true. And look at what happens
with immigration going forward. This is a travesty
what's going on right now, dragging people off
the streets and sending them to El Salvador,
to prisons without due process. And if people
think that that's going to stop there, they're
mistaken. Every single American wants a strong
border. people can't cross willy -nilly just
i mean same thing with uh europe they want strong
borders that people can't uh cross willy -nilly
and so forth um same thing with any country but
it has to be done in a humane way it has to be
done constitutionally and and through law you
know and not not in this lawless inhumane fashion
that's being that's going on right you know and
that's you know that's Obviously, I'm passionate
about that right there. But you can distract
people with lies so that you can provide cover
for billionaires. And I think that's what's going
on a lot of times. When you get to Congress and
you're looking at getting some committee assignments,
would being on a committee that's assigned to
immigration be something that is of interest
to you? Absolutely. Absolutely. President Biden
offered, obviously, the strongest immigration
bill in the history of the United States. Right.
And Donald said what? He said, told Republicans,
squash that because I want to campaign on it.
OK, so, I mean, obviously we want strong borders,
but we also want people to be treated fairly.
We want the rule of law involved in this and
not lawless behavior, not ice agents walking
around with their faces covered, yanking people
off the street without showing badges, without.
I mean, it is not what we expect in the United
States of America. So, yeah, I would love to
be on that committee. Any others that pique your
interest? maybe fighting with Marjorie Taylor
green on the oversight committee, something like
that. I don't, I don't relish fighting with anybody,
you know, going to hide, you know, oversight
committee would be fine. You know, I, I, I, my,
my biggest focus right now is not on what I'll
be doing, which committee I'll be sitting on.
It's on winning this race. That's, that's the,
That's the thing in front of me right now. The
rest of this, we'll get to it. I'm willing to
work anywhere, anytime, do anything that we need
to do to advance our country. Any committee I'm
on, I'll show up for work. We'll do the job.
I believe in hard work. I've done that all my
life. We'll do what's right for people without
regard to their social status or their... Bank
accounts. Sure. And to that end, what are you,
what is your strategy going forward and continue
to campaign? I mean, other than appearing on
this podcast, which I'm sure. Well, this podcast
will win the election for me, so. I hope so.
I expect a very big check if that's the case.
Then I'll go to a very big prison. That will
be it. We have to show energy, the energy that
we showed last time. You know, I've got to be
active in all 10 counties. You know, this coming
Friday, for example, I'm walking with others
in the July 4th parade over in Watauga County.
Then on Saturday, my wife Sherry and I will be
going with Anderson Clayton and others to Ash
County, to downtown Ash County in West Jefferson.
And we'll be there for Christmas in July. A ton
of events in Greensboro will continue doing that.
One of the things that we are doing is we're
doing town halls in every single county. Now,
Virginia Fox, as you all know, came out and said
that she's not doing town halls because that's
just a place where people yell at their member
of Congress. Bless her heart. Bless her heart.
If you do your job and don't offend people and
don't act actively against their best interests,
then people probably don't yell at you as much,
maybe. But we've already done town halls in Greensboro
and Watauga County and in Mount Airy over in
Surry County. We got them set to go in Caldwell
County and I want to say Stokes. I'm not positive,
but we're getting this going. You know, and we're
going to do them. And I want to talk to people.
I want to hear what they have to say. It's important.
You know, and I try and listen. I enjoy the back
and forth. I don't know what Virginia Fox hates
about that. You know, I enjoy talking to people.
You know, even people who are like hard right.
You know, we can find common ground. And that's,
you know, I'm actually pretty good at that. You
know, we'll sit down and talk about what's really
important. We've got to have that energy right
there. And, of course, the financial aspect of
it is huge. We're raising money as hard as we
can. She's got about $5 million in the bank.
The last time I looked, and we're looking to
raise about $2 million. I hate the amount of
money that's in politics. I hate it. Absolutely,
it makes me sick to my stomach that Elon Musk
was allowed to put $250 million in a presidential
election. I think that swayed it. I think that
added points to Donald Trump. I think Citizens
United was an absolutely wrongheaded decision.
The Supreme Court was wrong, but we have to live
with it. And the end result is that races, all
the way from the presidential races, all the
way down to Congress and state races, it's been
affected. And so we've got to raise the money.
We're looking to raise about $2 million. when
Elon Musk puts his hat in the ring for a state
Supreme court race in, uh, where was it? Wisconsin.
I'm pretty sure it's, I mean, it's a good thing
that they didn't win up there because that would
have set a precedent for. His hat got stomped
on in that ring too. You know, I noticed. Sure
did. People, people saw him wearing that cheese
head and they were like, uh, nope, absolutely
not. That's right. And I think about Allison
Riggs and her race here. The threat is not just
in the federal courts. It's, of course, with
the right trying to control courts in all states,
state courts. Allison's a friend of mine, and
she did a wonderful job. And Jefferson Griffith,
I think his name is, ought to be ashamed of himself.
He should be ashamed. Anyway. Yeah, 100 % agree.
And I will say, just backing up half a second
to the whole town hall thing, you know, you said
Virginia Fox's thing was, oh, well, you know,
that's just, I'm going to get yelled at or whatever.
I think what that shows, her saying that, is
a fundamental disrespect for her constituents,
for the citizens of the 5th District. It shows
that you know just to be blunt she does not give
a about what they have to say that is correct
all about herself and that's it herself and her
donors right right and and you'll notice that
she's only going to places in the district where
there are people of like mind people who will
vote for her no matter what you know that's uh
that's not where i'm at right there i mean we
got to talk to everybody and everybody counts
your every vote counts uh which is another concern
in the United States. We don't know what more
interference there will be in elections in 2026.
But regardless, my job is to represent everybody,
not just people who give me money, not just people
who sing out of the same hymnal as I do. People
with radically different viewpoints, sometimes
they say some pretty cool stuff. You know, and
they changed my mind. There's an old friend of
mine, the late Earl Edwards. He was probably
the best football coach North Wilkes High School
ever had. And Earl was a dear friend of mine.
He says, I reserve, he used to always say, I
reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow.
Be willing to listen to others. And I think that's
important. I'm not sure Virginia Fox ever was
willing to listen to somebody else. You know,
he's an old politician. She knows how to turn
the right levers, you know, and, and let me tell
you, fellas, her time is done in politics. Love
to hear it. Now, just one, one final question,
one final question before we wrap it up here.
And it's one we try to ask of most of our guests.
What is your go -to cookout order? If I'm having
a cookout, oh, man, let's throw some, well, for
an entree. I can go with steaks. Let me tell
you, medium rare. But I'm also happy with dogs
and hamburgers, you know, as long as we got some
chili and onions to go on that, you know. How
about some of mama's good old potato salad, you
know. And my wife makes a mean potato salad.
uh make you dance for it you know and uh down
some uh great banana pudding either you know
and and if you guys ate my green beans you will
never eat any others you'll be asking me for
the recipe well uh if you if you uh happen to
have a cook gal a campaign cook or anything like
that uh i will gladly make the trip from wake
county i would love to have y 'all you know we'd
love to have y 'all up here in the foothills.
This is an election in 2026 that genuinely, and
this is no hyperbole, this is just the fact of
it, it's about the soul of our nation. Which
direction are we going? If we don't take back
the House and we can't contest the Senate, then
we're in deep, deep trouble. The House and the
Senate are not doing their job. Republicans are
just conceding their power and their authority
to Donald Trump. And I'll be damned if I'll do
that. Well, Mr. Chuck Hubbard, thank you so much
for your time today. We really appreciate you
coming and talking to us and letting us know
that there is actually somebody out there fighting
against somebody like Virginia Fox. If anybody
out there wants to donate, wants to get on the
ground and volunteer, this is a candidate that
really needs the help. And we would love to see
when this November, 2026. Thanks Chuck again
for coming on and we wish you the best of luck.
Thank you guys. It's been fun. You know, let's
do it. Let's get out every day. Thanks so much.
Thank you.