Honeycutt pays visit to Robbinsville
Robbinsville – Of all the days for Rod Honeycutt to be campaigning, Tuesday, March 1, could have been better.
First, all his campaign literature stated he was running for the North Carolina 14th Congressional District, but court-ordered redistricting changed his district to the 11th. His wife scratched off some of the stitching on his jacket and made 14 into 11, but his flyers and even his website still said he was running for the 14th.
Perhaps worse – Madison Cawthorn, the incumbent Republican congressman from western North Carolina – announced late the day before that he was also running in the 11th.
A retired Army colonel who had been regarded as the frontrunner in the 11th, Honeycutt found himself going from frontrunner to an underdog in the Republican primary.
The Graham County Armed Patriots invited Honeycutt to speak at their monthly meeting. Some members of the group had dinner with him at Lynn’s Place, before moving over to the Veterans of Foreign Wars building off Moose Branch Road. About eight people attended his appearance at the VFW, including two candidates for Graham County sheriff who were also given time to speak.
Honeycutt, who enlisted as a private and retired a full-bird colonel, uses his Army experience throughout his campaign. He hands out dog tags with his campaign information. He wears boots he said he wore on the front lines during his service.
“I wear these boots every day to remind us what is important,” he said.
At Lynn’s, he arranged napkins and cutlery around the tabletop to illustrate situations in Afghanistan and Ukraine.
“It is important to have a veteran in Congress from North Carolina,” he said. “If we send our national treasures away, it is important to have someone with experience making decisions.”
There was cause for celebration on March 1. Ronnie Milsap, a Robbinsville native, gave Honeycutt permission to use his single, “Smoky Mountain Rain,” in the campaign.
Before dinner, Honeycutt’s wife recorded a video of her husband in front of the Ronnie Milsap mural on South Main Street.
Honeycutt is taking his campaign seriously. He made 41 campaign stops in January, focusing on several issues: inflation, child education, Ukraine, and not just energy independence, but energy dominance.
“I supported advisers along the Russian border,” he points out.
He worries about what China is doing in the South China Sea, which if it escalates will be “exponentially worse. We’re not prepared for it as a nation.”
He points to the importance of protecting the Southern Border, but adds that the East and West borders are equally important.
He describes himself as resilient, agile and able to roll with the punches.
He said Democrats “have a great game plan,” and that Republicans “need to go not he offense, take back the House and the Senate to protect the American way of life.”
Of course, Right to Life is also key on his list. His wife is a neonatal intensive care nurse.
“She fights for babies after they are born. We’re fighting for unborn children,” he said.
He said he has been receiving good support in Cherokee and Clay counties and is planning a car show and Easter egg hunt.
He has been in Graham County three times during his campaign, in November, January and March.
“Help him get out and campaign,” said Adam Phillips, who organized Honeycutt’s appearance in Graham County on March 1. “He’s dedicated to our country, dedicated to our district.”
Honeycutt’s Army career started in supply, then to logistics, then to tanks, before ending as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg.
He has three sons with his wife, Lisa-Joy, who he met when he was bagging groceries at Bi-Lo near his hometown, near the Madison-Buncombe county line. He said it will be an uphill climb getting past the Republican primary, which will be May 17, with schools getting out and in close proximity to Mother’s Day.
Honeycutt said he doesn’t see himself serving any more than 12 years in office unless he gets a key committee appointment, which would add another two terms, or four years.