US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, District 5
NOTE: You may vote for one. Candidates are presented below in the order they appear on your ballot
Reason for endorsement: You can’t go wrong. You have two good choices to take on Virginia Foxx in November. I believe primaries are not about where we are today; they are about voicing where we believe a party should go next and how we direct our party’s next chapter. For this reason, I was initially drawn to Creekmore for my primary vote because of his life story, his determination to take on the status quo and, frankly, his anger at the system he’s inherited. Besides, his words make my heart sing. (I”ll also admit it would be fun to watch him take on Foxx.)
Creekmore speaks to me, but I’m not your classic District 5 voter. He is the face of a progressive future, but upon reflection and research, I just don’t think he’s ready for this seat yet. He has the urgency and energy and an appealing plan, but doesn’t address how he will make that plan happen in this district. Short and sweet of it is Creekmore could learn a few things from Hubbard and Hubbard a few things from him. I, a fellow flamethrower, learned the hard way and firsthand you have to know the system inside out before you can shatter it.
Chuck Hubbard (Democrat)
https://www.facebook.com/ChuckHubbardNC
https://hubbardforcongress.com/
Hubbard’s grandfather started the Wilkes Journal-Patriot in 1932 and Hubbard has worked there for over 40 years as reporter, publisher, and editor. He also ran for the Dist 5 Congressional seat in 2024. This is one of my favorite videos by Hubbard:
Hubbard is a native of Wilkes County and started out working at the print shop of the Wilkes Journal-Patriot. At age 13, he became an Eagle Scout. At age 16, while as a student at Wilkes Central High, he began covering news for the paper, eventually coming to work full-time after graduating from Wofford College. He currently lives with his wife ,Shari, who served over twenty years as a State Trooper stationed in Wilkes County. They have three daughters and two grandchildren.
Hubbard has over 40 years under his belt as a journalist and outside of the business community, Hubbard has been deeply involved in his community, serving on the board of Wilkes Recovery Revolution, the Wilkes Child Abuse Prevention Team and the Wilkes Prison Ministry. He is a Presbyterian and lifelong member of North Wilkesboro Presbyterian Church.
Hubbard is a very strong progressive and promises to prioritize working class families and small businesses, public education and teachers, working to build an economy that ensures strengthening farmers, protection of medicare, medicaid and social security, expanding access to affordable healthcare, protecting women’s rights, and fighting corruption. He insists that Congress must step up and prioritize the people and small businesses who are still struggling with the devastation from Hurricane Helene:
Hubbard hits Foxx hard on his website, saying she incites controversy and promotes corruption.:
Hubbard goes on to detail Virginia Foxx’s voting record:
- Foxx directly blocked the Epstein files from being released to the public.
- Foxx objected to the certification of electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election.
- Foxx fought against a $7.25 minimum wage, and has fought against any additional increases.
- Foxx was one of only eleven members of Congress who voted against the aid package to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
- Foxx opposed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, claiming that the violent murder was not a hate crime. She even claimed it was a hoax, before retracting her statements later that year.
- Foxx voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified same-sex and interracial marriage rights into federal law.
- Receives scores of 0 consistently from the Human Rights Campaign.
- Co-sponsored a bill in favor of impeaching our Homeland Security Secretary.
Kyah Creekmore (Democrat)
https://www.facebook.com/kyah.jordan.628966
https://bsky.app/profile/kyahcreekmore.bsky.social
https://www.youtube.com/@KyahCreekmore
https://www.instagram.com/kyahforcongress
Creekmore is 24 years old and a first-time candidate. He proudly states, “I work retail, and I’m running for Congress.” He has been building a following on every imaginable social media platform, where he consistently exhibits native smarts, incisiveness, economic enlightenment, and steady control of the political facts.
Creekmore talks about the barriers to running, including the clubbiness of political parties that can make breaking in at the local level first almost impossible. His video discussions of issues snap with the electricity of a sharp mind dismantling the status quo.
He doesn’t have money, but he has presence that could conceivably spark a movement of otherwise disinterested young people. He sites the statistic that there are now some 63,000 college students living in the 5th District — not just at AppState anymore but at NC A&T and UNC-Greensboro as well.(Guess that’s why the Republican State Board of Elections took away the A&T and UNC-Greensboro student voting sites this year. And has been sued by the Elias Lawgroup in response.)
Creekmore’s life story is a study of families living on the margins: “I was born to a 15-year-old mother who raised four kids on her own without a diploma. She worked two and three jobs at a time just to keep us afloat. Because of her sacrifice, I became a first-generation college student at North Carolina A&T.”
“I worked corporate retail jobs that drained my time and dignity. They demanded everything while paying barely enough to scrape by. Those jobs did not just show me hardship. They showed me how a system designed to grind people down really works.”
Creekmore argues this same grinding down does the same to our land, water, and air. Witness corporations that run pipelines through our waterways and reservoirs. “Yet politicians keep approving projects that poison communities. Families pay with their health while billionaires cash out. I know this because I lived in the neighborhoods that get sacrificed first.”
Creekmore believes too many politicians’ loyalty is to “big money” but also believes “they will scatter when we shine the light on them…. They posture as moral saviors, but the truth is they care more about campaign ads and donor checks than the people in their districts. That ends when we start shining a brighter light.”
Of course it’s hard to break through the noise to get the word out for new, young, progressive candidates. So hat’s off to my own husband who publishes the “Watauga Watch” blog for an extensive interview with Creekmore.Be sure to read the who interview yourself (you won’t regret it), but here are some key takeaway quotes for me:
“I’m 24 years old. For context, I’m literally more than three times younger than Virginia Foxx, who is 82. That contrast matters, because this race is about whether Congress reflects the future or clings to the past.”
“While Americans are dying over basic necessities, our government is distracted by absurd priorities, talking about annexing Greenland or spending trillions on endless military expansion instead of fixing problems here at home. I say enough.”
“Systems do not change because they are inevitable. They change because someone understands them deeply enough to force a new reality.”
“Democracy only works when people understand the system well enough to demand accountability. My campaign exists to break that conditioning, raise urgency, and remind people that government either works for us, or it does not deserve our consent.”
“… if people do not learn, power gets to shape the narrative however it wants. What is the story of the fish if it’s always told from the eyes of the shark?”
“If I win, I bring that work into Congress. If I lose, I keep building it until the country catches up.”
Creekmore didn’t come up short on his priority issues and what he’ll do to address them either, painstakingly detailed. From immigration to health care to affordable housing to voting rights to gun rights to human rights and beyond.