Less than two weeks after announcing the hire of Brittany Lofthouse as a regional representative based in Franklin, Macon County, the office of Rep. Chuck Edwards (NC-11th) confirmed her departure.
A Macon County resident, Lofthouse is known in Western North Carolina as the founder of the Southern Scoop blog. In mid-January, she took on the role of regional rep for the six westernmost counties for Edwards office.
“I was really grateful that I had the opportunity to briefly serve with Congressman Chuck Edward’s Office,” Lofthouse said. “I was really looking forward to constituent services and ensuring that all folks in Western North Carolina could really be connected to Congress because I know that it’s been quite a while since a lot of people felt like they had that connection.”
According to Lofthouse, a letter from a local GOP party chair to other county party leaders citing her lack of conservative values forced her resignation.
“It's unfortunate that Congressman Edward's office received some pushback because of my appointment to that position, specifically an email that went out from Graham County Republican party chair, Steve Odom, that called into question whether or not I lined up with conservative values and demanded that Congressman Edwards take action for me not to be in that position anymore,” Lofthouse said.
Odom declined to confirm that he sent an email related to the matter. He called the matter "an internal issue” that he would prefer not to discuss.
When she was named representative, Lofthouse said she would step away from the journalism venture but on January 29 she announced she would be continuing with her role at the Southern Scoop. Soon after, she said she had been forced to resign.
“Saturday night, [January 28] I received a text message from the district director that asked me to give him a call. And on that phone call, he and the chief of staff said that they would accept my resignation, just for the best interest of the office and for the congressman to be able to best serve the constituents who had some concerns about me being in that position,” Lofthouse said.
Edwards’ office did not make a formal announcement about the change and declined to respond to questions about the departure. They confirmed that Lofthouse is no longer employed with the office.
While some Republican leaders confirmed the existence of an email, they declined to discuss the content or its sender when asked by BPR.
As the regional representative, Lofthouse represented the six westernmost counties Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon, Swain and Jackson.
Vice Chair of the Clay County Republican Party Larry Ford did not want to discuss the details of any email but said it’s important for the district to have an office for constituent services in far western North Carolina.
“It’s a big district. It’s a long way from the Western tip of Cherokee County to the far Eastern end of the district. You can’t expect everyone to come to Asheville or Hendersonville. And I don’t think that is the current Congressman’s plan,” he said.
The district’s best constituent services happened when longtime Congressman Republican Charles Taylor was in office, Ford said. Taylor represented District 11 from 1991 to 2007.
State Senator Kevin Corbin (R-50) said he spoke with Edwards about Lofthouse and the contract work she did for him for the last few years.
“Congressman Edwards did ask me about her, about her skillset, and I shared with him that she had only done contract work for me. She had never been an employee,” Corbin said.
Based on Corbin’s campaign finance records, his campaign paid Lofthouse more than $7,000 since 2018 for her work on his campaign.
“I simply communicated to the Congressman that she had done a good job for me on the things I'd asked her to do, which were media, photographs, website design, things like that,” he said.
Last summer during Macon County Commissioners budget discussions, a Pride display at the local library became a flashpoint for discussions about public LGBTQ+ support. Lofthouse spoke at the meeting in support of funding the LGTBQ community and the library.
“I support loving and accepting everyone. Regardless of their shortcomings – even if their shortcomings are being narrow minded and attempting to ostracize a group of people because you disagree with how they live their lives,” she said at the meeting in June 2022.
She often feels caught in between the two parties, she said.
“For Democrats I'm too conservative and for conservatives I'm too liberal, so I'm really fiscally conservative and, and have a lot of really conservative values. And then at the same time, I'm socially liberal and try to do what I can and to stand up for people who are marginalized," said Lofthouse. “I lose either way. I don't belong to either party, and both parties have made it really clear which is just a shame that the work that I do and the services that I want to provide and the people that I want to help, that it a party dictates whether or not it's acceptable for me to do that.”
BPR asked Corbin what he hoped to see in the regional representative.
“The kind of person that the Congressman hires is up to him. I just want to make sure that someone who we can work with, my number one goal is as senator is to provide constituent services,” Corbin said.
Congressman Edwards’ office declined to discuss its vetting process and did not offer any additional comment about reasons Lofthouse’s role ended.
The regional representative needs to be someone who understands the “mountaineers” of the area, Ford of Clay County said.
“Since it is in Western North Carolina, there is a certain aspect to the culture and the values. You need someone who understands the folks who come from that community, and you need someone who can work with them as well as other folks,” he said.
Edwards’ staff would not confirm if he will open an office in Franklin.
