Former Army Colonel seeking to flip North Carolina House seat says Dem opponent is ‘beholden’ to Biden

A former Army colonel who’s wanting to flip a House seat from blue to pink in North Carolina says her Democratic opponent, whom she accused of being a “career politician,” is “beholden” to President Biden and the Democratic insurance policies that proceed to wreak havoc on her district.

Laurie Buckhout is the GOP nominee working towards Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., within the race to characterize North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District within the House. She spoke to Fox News Digital about her candidacy within the race, which has been ranked as a “Democrat Toss Up” by the nonpartisan elections analyst Cook Political Report.

“We have to admit that Davis is just Biden’s, you know, surrogate on the ground. He’s his agent, he’s his guy. He does what Biden says, he votes with Biden,” Buckhout mentioned. “He’s beholden to guys like Hakeem Jeffries in Congress. He’s beholden to Biden.”

Unlike Davis, Buckhout claimed she’s “not beholden to anyone except for the voters and the constituents of eastern North Carolina.”

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Laurie Buckhout is a retired military colonel and the GOP nominee wanting to defeat Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., within the race to characterize North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District within the House. (Laurie Buckhout marketing campaign)

Buckhout accused Davis, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served for 14 years within the North Carolina state Senate earlier than getting elected to the House in Nov. 2022, of being a “career politician” who has “never had a day in his life where he’s run a business.”

“He’s never created jobs. He’s been a career politician,” she mentioned.

“You look at everything he’s done, he goes down to the border, and all that is, is for photo ops,” she added of Davis, who beforehand served because the mayor of Snow Hill, North Carolina, within the early 2000s. “Has he made any changes or put forth any bills to stop the invasion? No. Has he done anything to stop illegal aliens [from] bringing fentanyl into the state or to his district? No.”

Buckhout, who’s been touring the district to converse with voters about their considerations forward of the election, mentioned there are a selection of points she’s hoping to deal with if elected, together with poverty.

“G.K. Butterfield, who hand-picked Don Davis to replace him, used to brag that this is the poorest district in North Carolina, and it is. It’s been Democrat-led for 141 years and maybe that’s the reason,” she mentioned.

Laurie Buckhout accused incumbent Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., of being a “career politician” throughout an interview with Fox News Digital. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc through Getty Images)

Buckhout mentioned that two points are on the high of thoughts in her district: border safety and the economic system.

“I think border security is probably number one. The economy, of course, is horrific, but even the poorest of people will tell you that they’re just terrified about the border,” she mentioned. “We caught a man on the terrorist watch list about three weeks ago in the county adjacent to mine, and we still haven’t heard back from Biden about why this guy is here. So, border security is huge. And then, of course, the economy, boosting the economy, creating jobs is number two. And frankly, they’re tied. We have to attack those issues head-on right away.”

Buckhout additionally famous that residents within the district are “extremely concerned” about crime and opioid use of their neighborhoods.

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“They’re concerned about the lack of accountability of these folks coming in. They don’t know who they are [or] where they came from,” she mentioned. “I got a call from a couple who are very concerned about illegal aliens living next to them. They had rented out a house, and [there’s] drug activity, all sorts of activity all day and night. They’re concerned about drug dealers coming into the area, concerned about fentanyl, concerned about their children. So I would say crime and fentanyl are big issues.”

“Those of us who are adults now grew up in an America that’s very different from what Joe Biden’s trying to shape, and we have to stop the progress that he’s trying to make in ruining our country. Don Davis is a part of that,” Buckhout added.

Prior to working for Congress, Buckhout served for 26 years within the U.S. Army and reached the rank of Colonel earlier than she retired in 2010.

Buckhout, a graduate of James Madison University who went on to earn grasp’s levels in nationwide navy technique and data administration, started her profession with the Army in 1984 and later commanded an 800-person battalion assault activity pressure as a part of the preliminary spearhead assault into Iraq in 2003.

“I was blessed to come from a lineup of Army combat veterans and Army Air Corps. My mother was Army Air Corps World War II, my dad was World War II, Korea and Vietnam,” she mentioned. “I grew up with that sort of military ethic. My father used to say, ‘You guys have gotta look yourself in the eye at the end of the day and know that you did the right thing.’ So, serving your country and the idea of duty is really important to me.”

Buckhout started her profession with the Army in 1984 and later commanded an 800-person battalion assault activity pressure as a part of the preliminary spearhead assault into Iraq in 2003. (Laurie Buckhout marketing campaign)

“The sense of standing up when you feel your country is in danger, that’s never really gone away,” Buckhout added. “That’s part of what made me decide to run for office was, as a mom and a citizen, as maybe a soldier for life, I guess, I can’t step away and just watch our country burn. I feel compelled to stand up and, you know, try to change it.”

Following her tenure within the navy, Buckhout, began a strategic consulting and providers group specializing in digital warfare and our on-line world operations.

“We worked on some wonderful programs when I came back from Iraq, stopping our soldiers from getting blown up with IEDs,” she mentioned. “When I retired from the Army in 2010, after being assigned to the Pentagon after going to Iraq, I did the same thing as a business, because it still needed to be done. Soldiers were still getting maimed and killed by improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, of course, now they’ve spread all over the world, and we’ve even found them on our own border.”

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Aside from a number of nationwide endorsements Buckhout has obtained, she mentioned that her “most valuable” endorsements have come from those that she mentioned know her greatest within the district, together with Chowan County Sheriff Edward Basnight, Lenoir County Sheriff Jackie Rogers, Gates County Sheriff Ray Campbell, and District Attorney Jeff Cruden.

In October 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly adopted new congressional district boundaries, including the counties of Chowan, Franklin, Greene, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and the rest of Vance to the state’s First Congressional District. The newly redrawn district now excludes Wayne County.

Buckhout, who was elected because the district’s Republican nominee final month within the GOP major election, will face off towards Davis within the state’s common election on November 5.