Republican officials expressed outrage and indifference, but a Democratic congressional candidate in western North Carolina said it showed the justice system was working.
These were some of the local reactions to the historic verdict by a New York jury that became the first to convict a former U.S. president. The jury found Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
“It's encouraging to see the justice system working, and it's encouraging to see someone being held accountable for a crime that they committed,” Caleb Rudow, Democratic candidate for the 11th Congressional District, told the Citizen-Times on May 30.
A spokesman for Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, who Rudow faces in the Nov. 5 election, did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Asked if the ruling would affect his race and other WNC elections, Rudow, an Asheville resident and North Carolina state representative, said it highlights the shortcomings of Republican candidates.
“I think this is another example of what the Republican Party has shown us in the past: candidates who are unfit for duty, who have committed crimes and who are more interested in social media likes than actually governing,” he said.
When asked about examples of Republicans who have committed crimes, he pointed to former 11th District Congressman Madison Cawthorn, who now lives in Florida and was convicted of attempting to carry a loaded gun onto an airplane. Shortly after his verdict on May 30, Cawthorn posted on X (formerly Twitter) “Congratulations to Donald Trump for being elected again today as President of the United States.”
The area's highest-ranking Republican official, Michelle Woodhouse, chair of the 11th District Republican Organization, attacked Democratic President Joe Biden and the justice system, saying it was being weaponized by “rogue prosecutors and highly partisan judges in New York.”
“The American people and voters of NC11 are not being fooled,” she said in a text message to the Citizen Times. “They know Biden's policies have failed their families and our country.”
But the Buncombe County Republican Party chairman, Doug Brown, had a different reaction. Brown leads the party in a predominantly Democratic county. He has faced legal trouble himself, having been accused of assaulting a Republican school committee member. An online court calendar did not show when he was next scheduled to appear in court.
“I am fully focused on my local elections and will not be commenting on Trump,” Brown said.
While the ruling won't have an immediate noticeable impact in Western North Carolina — a largely Republican region with a high concentration of Democrats in urban areas and college towns — Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, said that's not to say the ruling isn't important.
“At the very least, local and state candidates will have to decide how closely they want to associate themselves with the Trump brand, which is under much more strain than it was just a few hours ago.”
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Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years and has covered politics, government and other news. He has written award-winning articles on topics ranging from redistricting to police use of force. Have a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Support journalism like this by subscribing to the Citizen Times..
