Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly are rallying around Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), the conservative member of the U.S. House who led the charge for new leadership in Congress—a charge that ultimately led to Speaker John Boehner’s forthcoming resignation from Congress.
“We, the undersigned, wish to extend our sincere gratitude and thanks for your undying support of Conservative ideals and willingness to champion the same against the status-quo and gridlock in Washington,” a group of 17 Assembly Republicans including the state House Majority Leader and Majority Whip wrote to Meadows in a letter provided exclusively to Breitbart News. “Your continued leadership is crucial to helping put our great country back on the right track. We pledge to you our continued support and backing knowing that you are working tirelessly to promote values and philosophies that look out for the interests of Western North Carolinians.”
Signers of the leader include North Carolina General Assembly Majority Leader Rep. Mike Hager, Majority Whip Rep. John Bell and State Reps. Hugh Blackwell, Mitchell Setzer, Roger West, Sarah Stevens, Chris Whitmire, Jeffrey Elmore, Michelle Presnell, George Robinson, Josh Dobson, Jay Adams, Jonathan Jordan, Jeff Collins, Chris Millis, Justin Burr and John Blust.
In an exclusive interview via phone, Hager—the Majority Leader—further explained for Breitbart News why Meadows is so successful.
“I think Congressman Meadows has done a fantastic job for Western North Carolina,” Hager said.
As you probably know, Western North Carolina is probably the most conservative part of North Carolina. Now, Congressman Meadows is not my Congressman but he’s just to the west of my district. So we appreciate what he’s done. Most of the folks in Western North Carolina and most of the Representatives appreciate what he’s done. We appreciate his conservative stance, his pro-jobs and pro-business values. And he really takes that philosophy and translates that into action. It’s what he does in Congress and he just really puts his heart into what he feels is the right way—all of us who signed the letter, which is almost all of the Representatives in Western North Carolina. We believe in and appreciate what he’s done.
Meadows, as Breitbart News reported from his district during the August recess, has made it a point to go above and beyond by listening to constituents and representing their wishes in Washington. Hager said that representative form of government is long since lost among many other members of Congress, but that Meadows is an example of how to repair it.
“I think Congressman Meadows is of the people,” Hager said.
That’s what we’re all elected to do—not to go represent Washington values, but to represent Western North Carolina’s values which are different from what we see in Washington. I think Congressman Meadows takes what he sees in his hometown and his own district, and he takes his values about hard work and about conservative philosophy and about getting out of the way of good small and large business folks and take as little of taxpayer money and regulation as you can from the average citizen. He takes that all to heart and really represents that philosophy in Washington.
Hager added that Meadows is very courageous for stepping up against Boehner. Meadows had, before the August recess, offered a motion to vacate the chair—a fancy term for removing Boehner as Speaker of the House. Several weeks later, when it became clear that should Meadows bring the motion to the floor and force a vote that Boehner wouldn’t win reelection as Speaker if Democrats didn’t bail him out, Boehner announced his resignation.
“I think Congressman Meadows does exactly what he says,” Hager said.
He is Western North Carolina. He shares those views, he has that same philosophy and he has that same hard work ethic. And at the end of the day what we’re most proud of him for is that he doesn’t mind standing up against the powers that be and saying ‘this is not right. This is not what my folks in Western North Carolina sent me down here to do.’ We like his courage. He has such great courage that you don’t normally see from a Congressman, much less a [second-term] Congressman.
House Republicans, in conference this week on Thursday, will elect a nominee for Speakership elections to replace Boehner. The actual Speakership election will take place on the floor of the House of Representatives on Oct. 29–and whoever the conference nominates on Thursday will have to win 218 votes on the floor on Oct. 29. After the conference elections on Thursday for Speaker, at sometime in the future, elections for a new House Majority Leader and House Majority Whip will take place.
Read the letter: