A Democrat is close to flipping a staunchly red district in North Carolina after he decided to run for office to fight for the rights of his LGBTQ+ daughter.
With more than 95% of votes counted, Chuck Hubbard currently leads 11-term anti-LGBTQ+ incumbent Virginia Foxx (R) by 325 votes in North Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District. According to NBC News, Foxx would need to win 64.3% of the remaining vote to catch up to Hubbard. S he beat Hubbard by 19 points in 2024.
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A moving video of Hubbard at a town hall shows him explaining why LGBTQ+ issues are among the closest to his heart.
“The day Trump was elected the first time,” he said, “My daughter, Meredith, called me… crying and said, ‘Dad, every bit of progress we ever made is gonna be taken away from us. These people hate me… and they’re coming after me.’”
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“That’s about as important as it gets,” he continued. “So I will do whatever, whenever, however I can to protect the LGBTQ community and make sure that they’re not bullied. Everybody deserves to be able to live their lives the way they want. You don’t get to tell me who to love. You don’t get to tell me how to dress, who to associate with, how to speak. These are core issues in the United States and the LGBTQ community. With MAGA folks in control, believe me, they are under threat.”
Foxx, on the other hand, once voted against a bill to improve domestic violence law in part because it required some recipients of federal grant money to not discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.
She also once argued against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, claiming that while Matthew Shepard’s death was a “very unfortunate incident,” the idea that it was caused by homophobia was a “hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing” hate crimes bills. Foxx claimed it was merely a robbery that led to Shepard’s death.
Hubbard appears confident he will win the race, as he attended New Member Orientation this week in Washington, D.C.
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