GOP lawmaker recovered from COVID-19 said he got ‘vile and nasty’ messages
In a speech on the North Carolina House floor, a lawmaker who recovered from COVID-19 thanked supporters and blamed some Democrats for “vile and nasty” messages he received from people while he and his wife were sick.
Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Chocowinity Republican and House deputy majority whip, made his first return to the House floor after being hospitalized in mid-August with COVID-19.
“As I’m sure you all know, my wife and I both contracted COVID,” Kidwell told fellow lawmakers on Wednesday. “After about 16 days we were actually starting to feel better, but suddenly both of us started to encounter some breathing issues long after the virus was actually done, and we ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. I spent about three days there and my wife was there for about a week. She was in far worse condition. We both recovered and ended up at home,” he said.
Kidwell said he received “wonderful messages and prayers from everybody” at the Legislative Building from both sides of the aisle and both chambers.
“I did note though, after a couple days, we started getting posts on Facebook that were wishing my wife and I would die,” he said.
“They used various reasons to wish us this ill, from being Trump supporters to being too fat, to calling us anti-vaxxers or anti-maskers — which by the way, my vaccine status is nobody’s business, OK?”
Kidwell represents Beaufort and Craven counties. He has been an outspoken critic of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s coronavirus response in 2020 and early 2021.
There are no statewide coronavirus restrictions now, but the city of Raleigh has an indoor mask mandate. Kidwell said during the summer of 2020 that he would not wear a mask, and continued to not wear one the past year and a half, regardless of state and local rules, including Wednesday.
Kidwell said that beyond Facebook comments, his office received phone calls and emails.
“Here’s what I want to tell you,” he said. “The vile and nasty ones came from one group of people. Don’t take this personal, it’s not directed at you [he said to House Democrats], but it came from Democrats, registered Democrats.”
Kidwell said they looked up voter records or saw party references displayed on social media accounts.
“To those evil people who wished ill on my wife and wished her to die, may God have mercy on your souls,” he said.
Kidwell also said that while he recovered after they returned from the hospital in August, his wife Viki went back to the hospital with chest pains, and she had a heart attack in the emergency room. Kidwell said that COVID-19 “might’ve been the thing that pushed the limit for her” heart problems. She went on to have open heart surgery, he said, came home, then had to go back to the hospital again with sepsis. She’s now home once again and still recovering.
“Do please keep my wife in your prayers as she continues to suffer from pain and fevers. Hopefully we’ll get that straightened out in the next week or so,” he said.
There are more than 3,000 people currently hospitalized in North Carolina due to COVID-19. In Beaufort County, 58% of the adult population is fully vaccinated, and in Craven County 61% of adults are fully vaccinated. Statewide, the fully vaccinated adult rate is 64%.
Vaccinations are free and readily available to North Carolinians age 12 and older. For information, visit covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.
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