National Guard to Charlotte? 3 NC congressmen ignore Election Day rebuke | Opinion
Hardly 24 hours after voters across the country delivered a clear rebuke of Donald Trump, some North Carolina Republicans are embracing one of the more unpopular parts of his agenda.
In a letter Wednesday, a trio of Republican congressmen urged Gov. Josh Stein to deploy the National Guard to Charlotte, even as polls show that voters in North Carolina and across the country oppose the idea.
The letter, signed by U.S. Reps. Pat Harrigan, Mark Harris, and Chuck Edwards, said there is a “violence crisis in Charlotte” that has become “increasingly dire.” It cites recent statistics that show an increase in violent crime in uptown Charlotte this year, even as violent crime in the city as a whole has increased.
Tuesday’s elections, which were a blowout for Republicans everywhere, should have sent the message that voters are tired of politicians ignoring the real struggles they’re having. Instead, this is what we get: more of the inflammatory political stunts that frustrated voters in the first place.
The request comes as Trump has sent troops to several U.S. cities led by Democrats, including Chicago and Los Angeles, to crack down on crime and “lawlessness.” The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police wrote its own letter last month “to request federal law enforcement assistance, including the National Guard,” and Vice President JD Vance said in a September visit that the administration would be willing to send the National Guard to Charlotte if local and state leaders request it.
Stein has said he doesn’t believe the National Guard is needed in Charlotte. Other leaders, including Mayor Vi Lyles and Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, have expressed similar sentiments. Ironically, none of the congressmen who signed the letter represent uptown Charlotte, and only one of them represents Mecklenburg County at all. The 8th Congressional District, which is represented by Harris, includes a southeastern portion of the county. But Harrigan’s district doesn’t come closer than Lincoln County, while Edwards and his western North Carolina district are three counties away. If you’re a voter in any of these districts, you’re probably wondering: “Why is my congressman spending time on this instead of what’s affecting my community?”
But Wednesday’s letter isn’t about actual need — it’s about politics. For months, Republicans in North Carolina and beyond have used recent incidents in Charlotte to bolster a larger message that Democrats are soft on crime, while Trump and Republicans are the solution. That’s exactly what’s happening here, too. In a statement accompanying the letter, Harris accused Stein of being “deaf to the desperate pleas of Charlotte’s police and residents.”
“He refuses reinforcements to crush the violent crime surge—exposing him and his party as pro-crime Democrats who coddle criminals while ignoring victims,” the statement said.
But even from a strictly political perspective, the letter doesn’t really make sense. Public safety isn’t a winning issue for Republicans in Charlotte — at least not right now. At first, it seemed like concerns about safety might give this year’s GOP candidates a rare boost in the state’s largest city. But voters reelected the mayor and all four city council at-large members by comfortable margins in what was the highest turnout for an odd-numbered election year in at least a decade. In Charlotte City Council District 6, Democrat Kimberly Owens easily defeated Republican Krista Bokhari, becoming the first Democrat to ever represent that seat. Bokhari’s campaign was heavily centered around crime and safety, and she was supportive of sending the National Guard to Charlotte.
Safety in Charlotte is an obvious concern, especially after the horrific murder of a 23-year-old woman on the light rail in August. Change is obviously needed. But it’s an issue that’s best handled by state and local leaders and law enforcement — not the military, and certainly not by politicians who don’t even represent the city they claim to be so concerned about.
Paige Masten is a deputy opinion editor for the Charlotte Observer and McClatchy’s North Carolina Opinion team.
This story was originally published November 6, 2025 at 11:50 AM.
