Former U.S. House candidate ID’d in flag burning
- Jan Carey
- Sep 6, 2025
- 2 min read
by A.P. Dillon; A.P. Dillon is a North State Journal reporter located near Raleigh, North Carolina. Find her on Twitter: @APDillon_
RALEIGH — A man who set fire to an American flag in Washington, D.C., in protest of an executive order by President Donald Trump has been identified as Jay Carey, a failed former Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, a seat currently held by Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards.
A video of Carey burning the flag shows Secret Service agents intervening and putting the fire out with an extinguisher while other offices detained Carey.
“No president can make a law period,” Carey said “No Congress shall make a law infringing on First Amendment rights.”
Carey also said he was “burning this flag as a protest to that illegal fascist president that sits in that house.”
“I served over 20 years in the United States Army. I fought for every single one of your rights to express yourself in however you feel that you may want to express yourself,” Carey said during the flag burning incident. “It is a First Amendment right to burn the American flag.”
Secret Service said Carey was detained for “for igniting an object,” and U.S. Park Police later confirmed Carey was arrested for a violation of 36 CFR 2.13(a)(1), which prohibits unauthorized fires on federal property.
Video later posted by the Instagram account @jolly_good_ginger features Carey explaining he was held for four hours by U.S. Park Police and charged with lighting a fire in a public place. Carey also said Secret Service was originally involved, but it was the park police who eventually arrested him.
“I did this in protest of what Donald Trump did with that executive order saying that it was illegal to burn an American Flag,” said Carey. “He can’t make orders, and I wanted to put it to the test. So I did. I’m not in jail for a year.”
While titled “Prosecuting Burning of the American Flag,” Trump’s executive order does not create a new law. It directs the U.S. Attorney General to prioritize enforcement of laws involving desecration of the American flag for reasons other than those “consistent with the First Amendment.”
Trump’s order also does not include specific penalties or jail time for burning the flag.
Trump’s order, while arguably unenforceable, is consistent with the Supreme Court’s 1989 decision in Texas v. Johnson that said flag burning is legitimate political expression protected by the First Amendment.
This is not Carey’s first time making national news this year.
In March, a video went viral of Carey yelling obscenities at Edwards during a town hall event in Asheville. Like the claim he made during the flag burning, Carey only identified himself at the town hall as a “veteran.”
Both Carey and his wife, Leslie, are involved in the Henderson County Democratic Party. Leslie Carey is that county party’s chair.
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