OPINION: NC-13’s veterans deserve answers from Congressman Brad Knott

Scott Peoples, a North Carolina Army veteran and veteran rights advocate, has tried to contact his congressman to express his concerns about the mass firings by the Trump Administration and their effects on the VA. He has not gotten an answer.

It has been quite the scene watching the video footage of the town halls conducted across the country by elected Republican members of Congress in districts they just won in November. 

It is clear that there are a lot of pissed off people that are not happy about what Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing with the mass firings of federal workers by DOGE. People are especially angry about the negative impact that this is having on the veteran community. 

The idea of downsizing the federal government is popular until it negatively impacts the people and services that we love and need in our local communities. But I will give these Republican elected officials credit for one thing, they are showing up and taking direct questions from their constituents face-to-face even though they know they may face some heat. 

Unfortunately, the constituents of North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District have not been shown the same respect as so many other districts across the country. I have called and emailed the office of Congressman Brad Knott repeatedly over the last week or two and have received nothing in response, not even a courtesy reply. 

As a veteran’s advocate, and as a veteran myself, I am looking for answers as to why the Trump administration seems to be so hostile to the veteran community. Veterans make up almost 30% of the federal workforce and already over 6,000 veterans have been fired without cause across the country with many more to come. The veteran community is getting doubly screwed over because there have already been over 2,500 federal workers fired from the VA, and there may be 80,000 more layoffs to come soon. 

This will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the quality of veteran’s healthcare at already understaffed VA facilities across the country. 

In my emails to the office of Congressman Knott, I specifically asked if he had any more information about the recent layoffs at the Durham and Fayetteville VA Medical Centers. The recent reporting has not specified how many people were laid off and in what positions they held. 

There are around 50,000 veterans in the NC-13 Congressional District and a large portion of them use these medical centers as their primary healthcare facility. I am enrolled in the Durham facility and must say that I have always been so appreciative of the wonderful care that I have received. 

I was also stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville and have had great experiences at that facility as well. The vast majority of people that work at the VA are hardworking public servants that just want to make sure that our nation’s veterans are taken care of. They have been disrespected by the Trump administration and it is disgraceful. 

There are so many good people that are currently waiting for the dreadful email that so many other federal workers have received that after years of service, they have been fired so the richest man in the world and the most powerful man in the world can give more tax cuts to their billionaire friends. I have not seen Congressman Knott address these layoffs yet, so I am searching for answers.

To me, it seems pretty clear as to why he is not responding if you take a look at how the 2024 election came about in NC-13. As we remember in 2022, NC-13 was a toss-up district. Congressman Wiley Nickel defeated Bo Hines in a very closely contested race. North Carolina is a purple state, and in 2022, this was reflected in the even 7-7 split in its 14 congressional district races. But then, after the Republicans took back control of the state Supreme Court, they reenacted one of the most partisan gerrymanders in the entire country. 

After this egregious gerrymandering, NC-13 went from a toss-up district to R+17 and the 7-7 split became a 10-4 split for the Republicans, even though the overall vote totals were about a 50-50 split between the two parties across the state. If you truly believe in a healthy democracy, this should anger us all. 

Also, if you followed the Republican primaries for NC-13 in 2024, you would know that Kelly Daughtry received the most votes in the initial primary, but since she did not cross the 30% threshold, she had to go up against second place finisher, Brad Knott, in a special election. 

Early polls showed that Daughtry was leading until Knott received the endorsement of Donald Trump. After this endorsement, the race was essentially over. Daughtry said that she had no feasible path to victory after not receiving Trump’s endorsement. What kind of democracy is this when the only thing that matters in an election is the endorsement of one man? And this means that Congressman Knott now only has to worry about pleasing Trump. 

He feels so safe in his ridiculously gerrymandered district that he does not need to pay attention to any voters other than his base. NC-13 needs a leader that will listen to and answer to all of the constituents regardless of political affiliation. Congressman Knott, if you read this, please return my calls and emails. The veteran community deserves answers now.

I encourage everyone in NC-13 to reach out to Congressman Knott by going to his website to find his office’s contact information. We should all demand that he holds an in-person town hall as soon as possible. https://knott.house.gov/contact.