Activists boycott Rep. Chuck Edwards’ McDonald’s over his support of SNAP cuts

A NC civil rights group says it is asking people to boycott US Rep. Chuck Edwards’ fast food restaurants, including McDonald’s, because of his vote to cut food benefits for poor people.

A local activist group is leading protests and a boycott of fast-food restaurants owned by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards over his support of cuts to federal food and healthcare programs earlier this year.

“He’s making money off of us while he’s withholding food stamps. He voted to cut SNAP, he voted to cut the health insurance subsidies, he voted to spend so much money on chasing down immigrants,” NC Poor People’s Campaign leader Leslie Boyd told the Hendersonville Times-News Nov. 24.

Protests organized by a coalition called the Asheville Fights Back Network are planned for Edwards’ McDonald’s on 4 Seasons Boulevard in Hendersonville at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 28 and 1 p.m. Nov. 30, according to a Nov. 24 news release.

The boycott of the restaurants is open-ended. “I’m not setting foot in another one of them,” Boyd said.

The C. Edwards Group, Edwards’ company that owns the McDonald’s franchises, says on its Facebook page that it has locations in Hendersonville, Brevard and Canton.

The release said he owns seven locations.

Edwards voted in the spring for a Republican budget bill that included cuts to federal assistance programs including SNAP, Medicaid and subsidies for Affordable Care Act healthcare while increasing funding for immigration enforcement.

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The recent federal government shutdown highlighted the reach of SNAP benefits as funding for that program lapsed. The shutdown began when Democrats demanded renewed Affordable Care Act subsidies and Republicans refused to include them in a bill to reopen the government.

The subsidies will expire at the end of this year without action from Congress, which could lead to a spike in health insurance premiums for those with ACA plans.

Cuts to SNAP and ending ACA subsidies would affect 40% of Edwards’ constituents and worsen poverty in the region already compounded by the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene, Evan Richardson, also from the NC Poor People’s Campaign, told the Times-News Nov. 25.

The Asheville Fights Back Network is made up of Indivisible Asheville, the Western Circle of the NC Poor People’s Campaign, Good Trouble WNC, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and protest marching band Brass Your Heart, according to a Nov. 24 news release.

“The network works to raise awareness of public policies that harm people in our communities,” it said.

Boyd expected at least a few dozen attendees at the Nov. 28 and 30 protests.

“We don’t need to have necessarily a ton of people show up each time, (but) we’re hoping to sustain it,” Richardson said.

Dates aren’t set but the group plans to hold more protests down the road, she said.

“What we’d like to see from him is to really come to the table” and commit to reversing the cuts, Richardson said.

“One thing about Chuck Edwards, he does keep his doors open,” she said, meaning he’s at least willing to meet, even with his detractors.

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Richardson said that colleagues who have met with Edwards told her that “he doesn’t seem to understand the real impact” of cuts in the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

“We see what’s happening in Washington right now as an emergency. People are going to go hungry. People are going to go without healthcare,” Boyd said.

“If it goes viral, it might hurt him. He might take notice,” she said.

“I asked to represent the people of Western North Carolina in Washington, DC so I could fight to preserve their freedoms and ensure they have choices for their families, their livelihoods, and their future. I respect the people’s choice right to make their own choices, but I’m confident the urges for convenience, quick service, all American food, and world famous french fried will win out,” Edwards told the Times-News in a Nov. 25 email.

Reporting by George Fabe Russell, Hendersonville Times-News / Hendersonville Times-News

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