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Hornet's Nest Republican Men's Club is Well Represented at the 3rd Annual Mecklenburg Declaration Day Dinner

by Matt Aiken, HNRMC Board Member

Members of the Hornet’s Nest Republican Men’s Club board were in attendance as a VIP Sponsor of Mecklenburg County GOP’s Third Annual Meck Dec Day Dinner. This year’s event was held at Pine Lake Country Club in Mint Hill. Kudos to Kyle Kirby, Mecklenburg GOP Finance Chair and the members of the Special Events committee for a fantastic dinner, auction and event. The hospitality shown to everyone who attended cannot be overstated. Club Vice President Ken May began as Emcee for the evening and club Secretary Kevin Abplanalp was in attendance with several of our Board members.


The Keynote Speaker at the event was Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida. Joining Congressman Donalds in presentations to those assembled was our own Congressman Dan Bishop, NC Appeals Court Judge Michael Stating, NCGOP Chair Michael Whatley, and NC Representatives John Bradford and Trisha Cotham. Joining the HNRMC members at their table, fresh off his announcement that he is running for Governor of North Carolina, was former NC Congressman and friend of the HNRMC, Mark Walker.

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The program order had a slight modification due to Congressman Donalds being invited on Meet The Press the next day to discuss the debt ceiling negotiations. He spoke first and showed why he is a rising star in the Republican Party. He is a passionate and committed Conservative who recognizes the pivotal point we are in history and how important it is to save our Republic from the radical left Socialists that run the Democrat party, our government and private sector institutions as well as the media.

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Introduced by our own Dan Bishop, it was obvious from the start that these two men are not just colleagues, but also very good friends. As members of the Freedom Caucus, they are more popularly known as being part of the “Freedom 20” - the brave members of the House who held up the Speaker’s vote in order to ensure positive institutional change for the House of Representatives.

Congressman Donalds described his journey into politics. It began with the financial crisis of 2008. Being in the financial services industry, at the time, he needed to report to his ownership on how the crisis might affect their clients. So, in the course of his research he felt it important to look to the “experts” in government and began watching hearings of the various financial committees in Congress on C-SPAN. He soon discovered that these so-called experts knew nothing about the crisis or how to fix it. In his words, this reality is what got him off the couch and involved. He attended a Tea Party rally in his home town of Naples, FL and eventually won a 9 candidate primary for his current House seat. What differentiated him from the other 8 candidates?

He told his voters that he would not be a person of fear, but a person of power. By that he stated that he promised his constituents he would not only vote conservatively like the others, but that he would take the conservative message across the country. He said that a person of power is not afraid to take the conservative message to uncomfortable places, to audiences who may have an animus to the message and even the messenger and not just to friendly venues. He reiterated and encouraged the group to confront and educate those who are not exposed to our message if we want to increase our movement.

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Congressman Donalds ended his remarks by stating a fact that we all know, that the 2024 election is going to be the most important in our history and he was very candid in announcing his support for Donald Trump. Even with that said, he punctuated the importance of supporting whoever the Republican candidate is for every office. During his entire speech, he interacted with the crowd as a whole and individuals within it. Without a doubt, the one thing that showed more than anything was how passionate he was about his beliefs and what a principled fighter he is for the conservative cause.

It wouldn’t be Mecklenburg Declaration Day without a short history lesson and for that Judge Stading and NC Representative John Bradford were called to the podium. Although there is some controversy about the actual Declaration, it has been enshrined in North Carolina history as one of the two dates emblazoned on our state flag. The history showed that in addition to the delegates arguing against British taxes and policies, they also were fighting against laws that made it illegal for Presbyterian ministers to marry their church members. It was a fascinating presentation and a proud tradition for Charlotteans.

Next to the podium was our NCGOP Chair Michael Whatley. Chairman Whatley is, without a doubt, the hardest working state chair in the Republican Party. With a great deal of justifiable pride, the Chairman reiterated the successes of the 2022 election and discussed the importance of repeating that success in the upcoming election.

Finally, those assembled were addressed by one of the most courageous people I have ever met, NC Representative Trisha Cotham. Those of you who visit this site, read our blog articles or haven’t been out of the country for the last few months know about Trisha Cotham. On April 5, 2023, she made the principled decision to move from the Democrat to the Republican Party. With this move, the GOP obtained a supermajority in the House to go along with the supermajority they have in the state Senate. This effectively neuters Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, as they can override any veto, and that has had a tangible effect already in our state. She detailed her decision to switch and the fallout that she and her family has been through after she announced it.

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Her history is as an educator. During her career she has held many positions within the CMPS as a teacher and administrator. She was first elected as a Democrat at age 28 and was quite candid in admitting that even then, she was shunned by the Democrats, who had the majority in the NC House and Senate back then, as being too young and “too female”. She did manage to develop professional friendships with a few of her colleagues, two of them being newly elected Republican members Tim Moore (current NC Speaker) and Thom Tillis (current US Senator for NC). She spoke of how she was able to work with Republicans to pass common sense legislation. Always being a person of faith and having a heartfelt concern for the welfare of children, she worked to improve education and protect children.

She thanked the Republican officials in attendance for the warmth in which she has been received by the Republican Party and all that she and her family have been dealing with by the extremists that have taken over the Democrat Party. She told the crowd about the bombs sent to her home and office. How her children are being harassed at school and at home. One deranged individual even sent her children t-shirts that said Trisha Cotham is a Fraud and asked her boys to give them to their mother for Mother’s Day. She has had windows broken in her home, her driveway and neighborhood spray painted with the word “Traitor” and has had more than 100 death threats against her and her family. She now has a protective detail around her at all times due to the volume of incidents and threats.

Through all of this, Trisha Cotham is undeterred. She will not be intimidated. As she has stated, she has not changed her opinions or beliefs, they now align with the Republican Party as the Democrat Party has become the repository of Socialist policies and philosophy, anti-Patriot, anti-God and anti-country. She realized, as we all have, that if this continues, we won’t have a country.

This country needs more public servants, like Trisha Cotham, to take a similar principled stand to ensure we leave a country with the same freedoms we have enjoyed, for our children and children’s children. Those in attendance were honored to hear her story and to welcome her with open arms to our party.

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