Protester Banned From U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards’ McDonald’s Properties

Candler resident Leslie Boyd had long wondered which McDonald’s franchises in Western North Carolina were owned by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards. She knew a couple of locations in Hendersonville were his, but she couldn’t find addresses for others, even after checking his tax records.

She ended up learning which six McDonald’s restaurants her congressman owns when she got banned from them.

For the past six months, Boyd was among a group of four to 10 protesters who stood outside the McDonald’s on Four Seasons Boulevard in Hendersonville on most Sundays to protest Edwards’ positions on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and on health care issues. 

The Sunday protests were fairly low-key, she said. Sometimes someone would wear a Grinch or Ronald McDonald costume. Someone else might dress like Grimace, McDonald’s blob-shaped purple mascot. Boyd often held a homemade sign reading “Don’t Feed the Congressman! Boycott this McDonald’s” with a picture of Edwards standing next to President Donald Trump. (Edwards gave Trump a “french fries certification pin” in October 2024 after the president appeared at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Pennsylvania for a photo opportunity.) 

Passersby mostly tooted their horns or gave a thumbs up, Boyd said, though they sometimes gave the middle finger.

Most weeks, activists stayed on the sidewalk. But on March 15, a group called Persist Hendersonville asked to join, along with Brass Your Heart, an Asheville-based band that performs at protests and for which Boyd plays cymbals. A group of approximately 40 activists agreed to enter the McDonald’s that Edwards owns on Spartanburg Highway in Hendersonville and play a protest song to the tune of “When The Saints Go Marching In.”  

“We went in and we played a song, we kind of marched around, and the patrons seemed to enjoy it,” Boyd recalled. “They were clapping and laughing.” The activists also handed out dollar bills to the staff. “We figured we were going to interrupt them for a few minutes and they might miss some tips,” she explained. “Then somebody said, ‘We’ve called the police.’ We filed out as quickly as we filed in.” 

Three weeks later, Boyd received a certified letter from Edwards’ business office in Hendersonville. “This letter is to notify you that you are banned from visiting all properties owned by C. Edwards Group, d.b.a. McDonald’s,” it reads. The letter listed the addresses of six McDonald’s franchises in Hendersonville, Canton, Flat Rock, and Brevard, as well as Edwards’ office on Hendersonville’s Main Street. 

“Please note that if you are seen in person or on video surveillance on the premises of any of the above locations, law enforcement will be immediately notified, and you will be charged with trespassing,” it continued. The letter was signed by the congressman’s wife, Teresa Edwards.

“For almost half a second, I was intimidated,” Boyd said. “And then I realized I’d won something. I was exhilarated. I couldn’t stop laughing.” She promptly posted a photo of the letter on Facebook. “[It’s] been shared over 100 times,” she said with a chuckle. 

Boyd is a longtime progressive activist in the Asheville area with the Rev. William Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign, and she co-founded the Asheville Fights Back Network, a coalition of local activist groups. She disagrees with her U.S. representative about most political issues. But it’s also personal. 

Boyd’s son Mike died from colon cancer in 2008; he was uninsured due to a pre-existing condition. She shared this with Edwards when he was a member of the state House, she said, while she was advocating for Medicaid expansion. 

“His first question was whether my son had a job when he got sick,” Boyd recalled. “Nobody had asked me that before. And I was stunned. I said, ‘Are you implying that my son was too lazy to deserve to live?’ He said, ‘No, but you know, a lot of people just want a handout.’”

A spokesperson for Edwards’ office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Being banned from six McDonald’s is “no skin off my nose,” says Boyd. She said she hasn’t eaten in a McDonald’s in 25 years. She plans to continue protesting on the sidewalks outside of Edwards’ franchises “as often as I can,” she said. “I think we need to do it ‘til Election Day.”