On Sept 25, 2019 — the same day a bipartisan majority in the U.S. Senate blocked President Trump’s emergency declaration to allocate military funding towards a border wall — North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Dan Forest emphatically attempted to portray himself as a champion of military families, stating “under a Forest administration, North Carolina won’t just talk about being military friendly. We’re going to prove it.”

But to date, Forest still has not stood up for North Carolina’s military families slated to lose funding to Trump’s border wall, which critics argue is likely to do little to nothing to solve the humanitarian crisis at the Southern border. Forest has previously called a border wall a “top priority” of his campaign.

The Forest campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on his support for Trump’s proposal at the expense of North Carolina.

The loss of military funding cost the State of North Carolina upwards of $47 million, including $15.3 million originally budgeted to build a new ambulatory care center for service members in Camp Lejeune.

Other canceled projects include an elementary school that was slated for construction in Fort Bragg.