Comments | Eastern NC Now

I can understand why Armstrong is backpedaling now, but is he also trying to tell you that Jimmy Dixon was not there in the flesh at Armstrong's kickoff fundraiser? A LOT of people saw him there.

Is he also going to tell you with a straight face that exploiting illegal aliens is not part of the standard business model of big farmers? Even if for some reason one might not be doing it, all their colleagues are and they are going to circle the wagons to protect the availability of illegal aliens to exploit.

Washingtonian, unfortunately you are too gullible.

Commented: Sunday, January 18th, 2026 @ 9:04 pm By: borderhawk

I agree with your observations, Stan. The hostile RINO takeover of the local party has transformed the party from an apparatus that helps Republicans into an apparatus that excludes and works against local conservatives while supporting the RINOs and RINO Whisperers. It seems like this mission has priority over working against Democrats in general elections.

For example, I got a phone call the other night asking me to check out Face Book. I don't even like FB so I was not inclined to do it until he asked me, who is the person that bounces around FB giving thumbs ups using the name Beaufort County Republican Party? That's actually a very good question. I'll bet most of the members of the executive committee do not know the answer to that question.

So, I looked a little. Sure enough, the insiders and especially the insider candidates were getting all kinds of love fest Beaufort County Republican Party thumbs ups. Looked up some conservative Republican candidates and office holders I vote for. They were getting thumbs ups, but no action from Beaufort County Republican Party. Looks like somebody gets to choose IN PRIMARY SEASON for the real Beaufort County Republican Party. I wonder who gets to exert this power and by what authority? I haven't even gotten to the discretionary and ethics problems of these actions because the authority issue looms so large.

The people that take and use these unauthorized powers are the same people that attack local Republican officeholders and insinuate they are representing the Beaufort County Republican Party to the media when they are not. They are the same people that have a long and growing history of falsely charging Republicans they do not like with false crimes that have to be resolved over time by outside arbitration, after having no hearing from the local committee. They are the same people that use threats and much worse against fellow Republicans.

I've only touched the surface of this ugly situation. These corrupt and hostile people are not fit to be the face of the Republican Party or anything else. They have proven this by their abuse of power and their rotten actions over an extended period of time.

Commented: Sunday, January 18th, 2026 @ 6:02 pm By: Van Zant

Still can't come up with a single ISSUE you think Armstrong is better on than Kidwell, JV???? That "Christian Zionist" thing did not work any better than MTG's "Jewish Space Lasers".

You and those like you here can only whine about personality and your own hatreds. Most of us are more interested in the issues and policy legislative candidates will push in Raleigh. I see that Washingtonian also cannot seem to come up with a single genuine issue, but just keeps plddling along with that Obama-style "Hope and Change" message.

Lets look at a few issues.

The only policy issue Armstrong mentioned in his announcement was "2nd Amendment" but on the campaign trail, he says he is "pro Second Amendment but not as much as Kidwell". What does that really mean? His three special guests at his fundraiser were opponents of gun rights. Frankie Waters dumped on concealed carry for county employees. Steve Traxler is so hated by gun rights people that the leading state level gun rights group endorsed the Libertarian against him in the last election. Jimmy Dixon is the man who killed Constitutional Carry in last year's legislative session. Armstrong is clearly someone we cannot trust on this issue. Kidwell, on the other hand is one of the strongest voices for gun rights in the legislature.

Or take Shrimpgate, Phil Berger's attempt to destroy our NC shrimp industry to pander to an environmaentalist special interest, the CCA which dangled dollars in front of him. Armstrong has made noises about supporting the shrimpers, and tried to get a shrimper to take him out on the water for a photo op. The shrimper declined because he was running against Kidwell who was one of two key players in saving the shrimp industry from Berger. Armstrong had to settle for taking a picture on land with some shrimp boats in the background. Now, commercial fishermen have become aware that Armstrong was seen in Greenville, out of the district, trying to solicit support and probably money from a key leader of the CCA, the group that is trying to put the shrimpers and other commercial fishermen out of business. How two faced can a politician get?

Kidwell laid out where he stood on the issues when he was first elected, and he has honored his promises. That is the sort of elected official we need. Armstrong doesn't tell you where he stands on much, and when he does, he appears to be speaking with a forked tongue.

Again, I invite you to discuss real ISSUES, not some gibberish about 5D chess and various "guards".

Commented: Sunday, January 18th, 2026 @ 3:06 pm By: John Steed

Steed Part II: I'm not going to get too cranked up here as you have a right to your own opinion BUT, and there is a BUT, we're going to go deep in the sheol of things, as they are.

The old guard's caught up in the "short-term" and playing checkers down at King Chicken. The younger guard's playing 5D chess in 8-10K resolution; they're seeing more "long term" and calling $*** out for what it is from an unbiased standpoint.

The attitude that you're showing in defending Kidwell reflects, I believe, a sentiment that's no longer SOP (standard operating procedure). Though you don't like it not do you see the strategic advantage present, North Carolina still has a way to save a key piece of the strategic operation center of the GOP; the Virginia GOP pulled a "Robinson 2.0" with Earle-Sears late in the fourth quarter. The conservative unaffiliated voters, like in NC, put the GOP in check and made party strategists look like the idiots they are.

Bad actors, public polls and common sense..👌

Commented: Sunday, January 18th, 2026 @ 9:42 am By: John Valley

Just SAY NO to KIDWELL who conspires with Garris to manipulate us Local Yokels on everything that is local business, but wont assist the people of this district with local needs.

VOTE for a FRESH NEW Generation, who has never run for public office before. Vote for a FARMER, Darren Armstrong, who is more closed connected to the needs of real humans.

And remember this folks, if a person tells lies about a new GOP
candidate, in order to build up a favorable image of an old incumbent, then that person cant be trusted on anything.

Give HOPE a CHANCE: VOte Out the old tainted politicians and in with the NEW.

Commented: Sunday, January 18th, 2026 @ 10:38 am By: Washingtonian

It is absolutely critical that the Supreme Court act to end this nonsense of "birthright citizenship". No other industrialized country has it, and for good reason. The authors of the Constitutional amendment that some say creates birthright citizenship clearly said that it did not at the time the amendment passed.

This is just another threat of Chinese infiltration, like the hordes they sent over Biden's open border.

Commented: Sunday, January 18th, 2026 @ 10:08 am By: borderhawk

JV, the hate is strong in you, isn't it? I don't vote on emotion. I rationally look at issues. The main job of a legislator is to represent us in Raleigh, and Kidwell has been a solid conservative there. I do not want to replace him with a Frankie Waters clone, even though I do wish that Kidwell would be less engaged in the local party. That seems to detract too much from his solid work in Raleigh. And who knows but that the Frankie Waters clone might not be also engaging in party activty locally, too.

I ask you to come up with an issue, and you zoom off into outer space with a wild accusation of Kidwell being a "Christian Zionist", something I can see no basis for in his legislative record or his actions locally. Did you see MTG's "Jewish space lasers" while you were zooming around out there?

Commented: Sunday, January 18th, 2026 @ 9:42 am By: John Steed

Steed: I seem to have struck a nerve with you and you obviously became triggered by certain words/phrases; you didn't read anything else. If you did, you'd rethink your argument points as they make you sound like a sheep who drinks poured Kool Ai, I damn sure didn't vote for Biden. I supported Trump in 2016 and even in 2020 BUT I started questioning both Trump AND the GOP when they started kissing the asses of the Zionist EL-eats and giving them carte blanche to do whatever in the hell they want.....without question or opposition. If you question Israel, you get labeled as an "anti-Semitic" for calling out people who aren't even what they claim to be; they do that to escape international courts. This ain't a bull$*** conspiracy theory here; it's fact that the old guard GOP absolutely will not discuss in any capacity.

Kidwell is either a Christian Zionist/National Socialist who is using "MAGA Conservatism" as a way to grift a mainly braindead voter base OR he's an idiot sellout.

Commented: Saturday, January 17th, 2026 @ 10:57 pm By: John Valley

Stan: We might need Sigmund Freud and a team of psychiatrists to answer that one.

I can only guess. Adam has a distinguished record as a Republican in Beaufort County. It's my understanding that early on he worked within the local Republican Party and played a big role in party building in this county. More recently he holds the distinction of being a multi-term Republican mayor of a Beaufort County town with a high percentage of minorities. That tells me he earned a lot of trust from his constituents.

I suppose it's been a while since Adam has actually worked in the local party infrastructure. I'm wondering if that might be some of their problem. Many of these recent party leaders that have parachuted in from parts afar and are allied with their recent Democrat scalawag friends seem to be control freaks. Dictators at heart and willing to use any means to do it. They show that with their constant attacks in the form of dishonest and illegal party actions against Republican Party activists they do not like. Adam O'Neal is a strong Republican, but he is not in that party infrastructure at this time in his life. Since they could not go after him from the party infrastructure direction, it seems they tried a strategy of deceitful character assassination. They went that way since they could not control him within the party using their usual disgusting methods.

I guess the short answer is they do not like anything they cannot control. That's all my guess. There is no guessing about the vile actions of a group of party leaders as they attack good Republicans by misusing their positions within the party. There is no guessing there. These are facts.

I'm open to other interpretations of what makes these corrupt people tick.

Commented: Saturday, January 17th, 2026 @ 10:30 pm By: Van Zant

Van Zant: Why is it that RINOs despise Adam O'Neal so vehemently?

Commented: Saturday, January 17th, 2026 @ 7:39 pm By: Stan Deatherage

Our federal courts are a cesspool of political corruption. Al Capone had more integrity.

Commented: Saturday, January 17th, 2026 @ 10:08 am By: Bubba