In response to Josh Bergeron’s Political Notebook article, the Indivisible Groups within District 8 held a town hall in Pinehurst on Saturday with over 100 concerned citizens attending. Two doctors explained how Trumpcare would potentially affect North Carolinians. We heard from a potential challenger for District 8 representative and discussed initiatives to be implemented across the district.

Unfortunately, Mr. Hudson chose not to attend despite being invited by the leaders repeatedly and with offers to jointly design the event because we also wanted an orderly and productive event. We chose an area centrally located because in a newsletter he had explained that his district was too large to hold town halls, so we were making it easy for him. His office continued to postpone answering our request under the guise of difficulty scheduling. We were never turned down by his office but we learned his opinion in a comment to the Pilot (5/17) when he said “I don’t see what purpose that serves.”

According to Tatum Gibson, Mr Hudson has been very accessible to hundreds of constituents with “three open houses, multiple telephone town halls with tens of thousands of constituents.” Wish I could fact check that. As a Republican, I am aware of his presence at Republican meetings, especially ones raising funds for his campaign. I get his newsletter and posts which focus on small business or base visits and photo ops with private-school children. I have not seen any forum that encouraged questions of his decisions or asked him to explain a vote.

I may be a bit old school, but I think the Representative we send to Washington is accountable to the people at home. Not just those he expects to agree with him. Mr Hudson is pledged to do what is best for all North Carolinians. It feels like we have a professional politician, good at double speak and self-aggrandizement. How disappointing.

— Gail Young

Concord