Find more of our 2026 election coverage here.
This month, WHQR joined Port City Daily, WECT, and UNCW’s The Seahawk to hold candidate forums for local, state, and congressional candidates representing the Cape Fear region.
On today’s show, our forum for candidates running for North Carolina’s Congressional District Seven — which covers the southeastern part of the state and reaches up to near the Fayetteville size. Longtime Republican incumbent David Rouzer didn’t respond to our candidate questionnaire, and ultimately declined our invitation to our forum without giving a reason. His two challengers did attend, though – Democrat Dr. Kimberly Hardy and Libertarian Maad Abu Ghazalah.
Our MC for the night was the venerable Jon Evans from WECT. Questions were asked by Brenna Flanagan from Port City Daily, Sophie Barton for The Seahawk, and myself for WHQR.
This forum was recorded live at the UNCW Burney Center on Monday, October 12. This online and podcast version has only been edited for audio quality.
This year’s forums featured a lighting round, where candidates responded to yes-or-no questions with a show of hands, which might be confusing, so we’ve included a tally of responses below, as well as video from the evening.
Would you vote to end the Iran War?
Yes: Both
Would you support ending financial military assistance to Ukraine?
Yes: Abu-Ghazalah
No: Hardy
Would you support ending financial military assistance to Israel?
Yes: Both
Would you vote to end the Electoral College?
Yes: Yes
Would you vote to abolish the U.S. Department of Education?
No: Both
Would you vote to fully fund the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act) program?
Yes: Both
Would you support an individual payer system for health care?*
No: Abu-Ghazalah
Would you support a federal film incentive?
Yes: Hardy
No: Abu-Ghazalah
*This question may have been confusing — we meant to ask about a single payer. When Hardy asked, and Evans clarified, Hardy said she’d support a single-payer system, as she had said elsewhere. Abu-Ghazalah has said elsewhere he supports private options for healthcare but also a safety net for unexpected or catastrophic events.
