West Caudle for North Carolina

09/11/2026

Of things worth memorializing on September 10th, may we honor our Northern neighbors, and long-standing allies, who on this date in 1939 declared war on N**i Germany. Until V-E (Victory in Europe) Day on May 8th, 1945 the Battle of the Atlantic would rage on.

It would be another 27 months before the United States would join the effort to drive fascism from Europe in December 1941.

09/10/2026

Justice Anita Earls is coming to Hickory!

Join us at Morning Star Baptist Church on October 3 from 6:00–7:30pm for a community conversation about how the NC Supreme Court and NC State House shape your daily life. Hear from Justice Earls and me about our campaigns and our plans to tackle affordability, protect voting rights, strengthen public education, and more.

09/09/2026

**Voter Awareness Alert**

VoteSafe is a data collection vehicle of Elon Musk’s America PAC presenting itself as a voter information website.

America PAC is the vehicle that Musk has poured hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions behind some of the worst MAGA has to offer. With a special focus on Senate races in Texas, Maine, Michigan, and Kentucky.

For accurate voting information on dates, deadlines, registration, polling places, etc. please contact your local county Board of Elections or visiting your State Board of Elections website.

(North Carolina State Board of Elections website is linked in the comments.)

09/08/2026

09/01/2026

American politics is desperate for any level of accountability and honesty. Good people exist, both in office and as candidates. We have to start acknowledging almost everything is more important than party affiliation.

Personally, I am sick and tired of empty apologies disqualified by claiming what was apologized for not being something that should require an apology.

08/31/2026

Today is International Overdose Awareness Day.

Removing the stigma around substance abuse and overdose is how we save lives. Few of us have avoided someone near to us battling addiction. Far too many have lost someone to this epidemic.

Short-sighted policies from the current administration will cost more lives as healthcare and treatment access is more and more difficult.

We must be better. We will do better.

08/25/2026

(Most) Politicians in a nutshell.

Promising one thing while intending the exact opposite is not an uncommon thing in many political circles.

That someone would so nonchalantly admit to blatant lies is an odd move and the mild comedic flair, considering Chuck Edwards is being ridden out of town on a sexual harassment rail, is beyond the pale.

I’m sure Chuck will try for a comeback sooner than later. Hopefully, Western NC’s memory will not be too short.

08/23/2026

Ditto…along with grievance, donation asks, and can’t win not being a campaign strategy.

This is my law firm email account today.

While I like some of these candidates, I have never given a single one of them my email address, much less my law firm email address. This is the stuff that makes real communication with constituents harder, and erodes trust with donors and grassroots. It’s general to both of our major political parties. And it’s toxic to our politics.

Irrespective of whether this is the The DGA actively brokering list exchanges, any one of our alphabet soup of national organizations could have a hand in making consent-less national email list exchanges at thing of the past.

Democrats Senate Democrats Democrats

08/23/2026

Organizations that pushed for the election of MAGA are learning they were just part of the con as well. We are stronger as Americans, together, than playing into the division. Farmers, public educators, small businesses, and every hardworking American deserves leadership committed to making us stronger as a country.

No cow-calf producer in America is asking for increased imports. Undercutting American farmers and ranchers with products from foreign competitors does nothing to create market confidence or encourage rebuilding the herd.

For the second time in less than 12 months, the Trump Administration is intervening in markets in an attempt to artificially lower beef prices. Current retail prices are high because of strong consumer demand for the high-quality beef we produce.

Incentivizing additional foreign imports undermines America’s producers at a critical time as they make decisions about rebuilding numbers for next year. U.S. farmers and ranchers need stability. Unlike spur-of –the-moment trading decisions made based on White House social media posts, the decisions and investments ranchers make in their herds are made YEARS in advance, not days or weeks.

The Trump Administration's repeated whiplash on trade policy and beef imports has real impacts on cattle producers in rural America. USDA created and promoted a stronger “Product of the USA” label, only to abandon it and decide that MCOOL was the only option. Today’s announcement is not about helping producers. It’s not about putting their finger on the scale for one cattle industry group or another. It is 100% about the 74 days between now and the midterm elections.

08/21/2026

So does this mean that tariffs do raise consumer prices? (Of course they do. We are all living in this affordability crisis.)

And for the record:

- China stopped buying American soybeans and purchase Argentina’s for billions in income not going to American farmers.

- An 80,000 metric ton quota increase on the import of Argentinian beef.

- A 300,000 metric ton ground beef import that experts agree will have little to no effect on consumer prices. But will further negatively impact American cattle farmers.

The list goes on to highlight the financial disaster MAGA is inflicting on hardworking Americans.