A former Army colonel who's looking to flip a House seat from blue to red in North Carolina says her Democratic opponent, whom she accused of being a "career politician," is "beholden" to President Biden and the Democratic policies that continue to wreak havoc on her district.
Laurie Buckhout is the GOP nominee running against Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., in the race to represent North Carolina's 1st Congressional District in the House. She spoke to Fox News Digital about her candidacy in 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 said. "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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Buckhout accused Davis, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served for 14 years in the North Carolina state Senate before 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 said.
"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 previously served as the mayor of Snow Hill, North Carolina, in 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 traveling the district to speak with voters about their concerns ahead of the election, said there are a number of issues she's hoping to tackle if elected, including 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 said.
Buckhout said that two issues are at the top of mind in her district: border security and the economy.
"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 said. "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 also noted that residents in the district are "extremely concerned" about crime and opioid use in 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 said. "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 running for Congress, Buckhout served for 26 years in the U.S. Army and reached the rank of Colonel before she retired in 2010.
Buckhout, a graduate of James Madison University who went on to earn master’s degrees in national military strategy and information management, began her career with the Army in 1984 and later commanded an 800-person battalion attack task force as part of the initial spearhead attack 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 said. "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."
"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 in the military, Buckhout, started a strategic consulting and services group specializing in electronic warfare and cyberspace operations.
"We worked on some wonderful programs when I came back from Iraq, stopping our soldiers from getting blown up with IEDs," she said. "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."
Aside from several national endorsements Buckhout has received, she said that her "most valuable" endorsements have come from those who she said know her best in the district, including 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, adding the counties of Chowan, Franklin, Greene, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and the remainder of Vance to the state's First Congressional District. The newly redrawn district now excludes Wayne County.
Buckhout, who was elected as the district's Republican nominee last month in the GOP primary election, will face off against Davis in the state's general election on November 5.
