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After serving the citizens of the 8th district of North Carolina for the past eight years, four-term Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson is seeking another term in office in the November election.

His Democratic opponent is former associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court Patricia Timmons-Goodson.

Hudson, 48, grew up in Charlotte and graduated with a degree in political science from UNC Charlotte, where he served as student body president. He moved to Concord in 1999, where he currently resides with his wife Renee and 5-year-old son Lane.

His first political memory occurred at a very young age, when he was a toddler campaigning for his grandfather, Jeff Watson, who was running for city council of the small town of Roanoke Rapids. He said his grandfather, who was a councilman for many decades, was “probably the single biggest influence on my life.”

Like many young conservatives of his time, one of his biggest political heroes growing up was President Ronald Reagan, who he said “really instilled in me a pride in our country, but also a sense that public service was noble.”

Hudson served as district director for 8th District Congressman Robin Hayes from 1999 to 2005. It was during this time that he learned the ins and outs of national politics in Washington along with everything he needed to know about the 8th district.

“Besides the congressman, I knew our district better than anybody and built some really strong relationships across our part of the state,” he said.

He felt that God had more purpose for his life and so, after much deliberation and prayer, he ran for Congress for the 8th district in 2012 and defeated Democratic incumbent Larry Kissell by eight percentage points.

During his time in Washington, one of his proudest accomplishments has been the passage of the The SFC Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act of 2019, which he helped write and get passed in the House. The law, which is named after Green Beret Richard Stayskal who is stationed at Fort Bragg, allows active duty members in the Armed Forces to file medical malpractice claims against the Department of Defense for injuries and deaths caused by medical malpractice at DOD hospitals. Stayskal is living with terminal lung cancer after military doctors failed to diagnose his illness in 2017.

As a supporter of gun rights, he proposed the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which would require all U.S. states to recognize concealed carry permits granted by other states. He regularly travels to Stanly County to fish and hunt.

He also introduced at the beginning of 2020, the Care for the Veteran Caregiver Act which, among other things, extends stipend payments and access to health insurance for caregivers to 180 days after the death of a veteran, up from the current 90 days.

According to Congress.gov, Hudson has introduced or co-sponsored 53 bills, many of them bipartisan, that have become law during his time in Washington.

With less than a month until the election, Hudson is confident his conservative record — he’s Pro-Life, opposes the Affordable Care Act and has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association — will stand out to voters.

“Throughout my time I’ve proven I’m a conservative who knows how to get things done,” he said.

With regards to the ACA being repealed, he thinks Democrats and Republicans need to come together to write a new health care law that works for everyone.

“I think we need to write an American health care law, not a Republican health care law or a Democrat health care law.”

He serves on the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Subcommittees on Health, Energy and Consumer Protection and Commerce.

If re-elected, Hudson wants to continue helping communities impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and quickly distribute vaccines to the public once they become available. He also has a number of legislative initiatives he’s focusing on, including a bipartisan bill to provide more support to caregivers of several wounded veterans, which he hopes to get passed in the coming months.