Four Of The 'Haywood 5' Get The Boot From North Carolina Republican Party

BPR News | By Matt Bush

Published November 28, 2017 at 3:38 PM EST

The so-called 'Haywood 5' are a group of Republicans in that county that were brought up on official party disloyalty charges. The faced a trial of sorts this month before state GOP officials in Cary, which ruled four of the five are banned from the Republican party for differing amounts of time. The charges against the five included social media posts that indicated support for candidates who were not Republicans. The battle goes back further than that, to when the five started the Haywood Republican Alliance and challenged the party establishment in the county. Smoky Mountain News reporter Cory Vaillancourt has been following the story and joined BPR's Matt Bush in studio to give an update on the latest.

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Matt Bush

Matt Bush joined Blue Ridge Public Radio as news director in August 2016. Excited at the opportunity the build up the news service for both stations as well as help launch BPR News, Matt made the jump to Western North Carolina from Washington D.C. For the 8 years prior to coming to Asheville, he worked at the NPR member station in the nation's capital as a reporter and anchor. Matt primarily covered the state of Maryland, including 6 years of covering the statehouse in Annapolis. Prior to that, he worked at WMAL in Washington and Metro Networks in Pittsburgh, the city he was born and raised in.

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