Politics

In the closely-watched 11th District, Democrats regard Ager as their best shot in years

Democratic nominee Jamie Ager is challenging two-term incumbent Chuck Edwards in an 11th Congressional District race that is being watched statewide and nationally.

By Bill Moss, Published: April 7, 2026

Since 2012, the 11th Congressional District in the southwestern corner of North Carolina has not blipped on anyone’s radar as a competitive seat.

After taking control of the state Legislature in 2010, Republican lawmakers made sure it would be a safe haven for the GOP. That safety hasn’t been challenged, even in relatively good years for Democrats. Until, perhaps, this year.

The national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has promoted the district to a top-tier “red-to-blue” priority, the party’s voters nominated a fourth-generation farmer to carry the banner on Nov. 3 and a variety of factors could put the wind at his back: the pace of Hurricane Helene recovery, high prices for food and housing, the Iran war, gas prices, the U.S. president’s erratic behavior.

Into the breach stepped Jamie Ager, the Democratic nominee who decided last year that the time was right to run for office.

“I was frustrated with politics on both sides, and felt like I could be helpful and I can win,” Ager said in an interview last week when the Lightning asked why he's running for Congress. “And so the fact that I can be helpful and can go win and I’m a patriot, means that it’s time to stand up and do something. … I am a fourth generation Western North Carolinian and I love our country. My background and experience in agriculture and in small business means that I am very able. People see me less in the context of partisan politics and more in the context of community member, basketball coach, a farmer, a neighbor.”

‘We’re going to see the pace pick up’ at FEMA

The two-term incumbent, Chuck Edwards, says voters in the 11th District know his record and his effectiveness.

“The way that I’m approaching that is to continue to do the job that people hired me to do here in Washington, D.C., in the first place, to continue to fight for the people in Western North Carolina and do an effective job. That’s my strategy,” he said.

New leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, should mean speedier delivery of hurricane relief.

“I’m hugely optimistic,” Edwards said. “I know Markwayne Mullen (the new DHS secretary). I’ve had a chance to meet him many times in the three years that I’ve been here in Congress. I’m encouraged. I think that we’re going to see the pace pick up.”

And when he’s asked whether voters’ frustration with Helene relief is one of the headwinds in this election, he responds with a barrage of facts that make clear he’s been asked the question before.

“I don’t think folks often give us credit enough for what we’ve been able to accomplish,” he said, while stipulating that “there’s no question there’s much work to be done.”

“But just look around our region today compared to a year ago,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of our roads are open, 100 percent of our water systems are operational, we’ve repaired or replaced about 160,000 homes, we’ve repaired or replaced 10,400 roads and bridges, FEMA has delivered about $8½ billion to Western North Carolina. We tend to look at the things that haven’t happened yet and try to grade everyone on those items. The reality is our region has been under development now for about 200 years, and it was wiped out in six hours and it’s going to take a little while to rebuild.”

It’s worth noting, too, that Edwards has already survived one post-Helene election, turning back Democratic challenger Caleb Rudow in 2024 with 54 percent of the vote. While the Cook Political Report’s Partisan Voter Index will rates the district plus-5 Republican, that’s more purple than the plus-8 lean two years ago.

Democratic ‘donations are up, volunteers are up’

In Henderson County, Democrats may be as fired up as they’ve been at any time since 2006, when Democrat Heath Shuler defeated Republican Charles Taylor, a popular eight-term incumbent from Transylvania County.

“Henderson County, out of 100 counties in North Carolina, moved further to the left than any other county in the state” from 2022 to 2024, party Chair Linda Ford said. “We moved four points to the left.” Nationally, “we were number 11 in movement to the left.”

Ford and other Democratic leaders hope to build on the 2024 red-to-blue migration in this year’s mid-terms.

In the past, she said, if she tried to recruit volunteers in March and April, “They laugh at you. They’re like, ‘You’re kidding. That’s eight months away.’

“Now, people are coming up to me, saying, ‘What can I do? I need to help.’ So yeah, people are very interested in helping. Our donations are up, our volunteers are up,” she said. “One of my officers has been here for seven generations, and he said it’s been a hard slog for Democrats. But he said, ‘Something feels different. I think the people are ready for this.’”

She sees Ager as a candidate that fits the country’s mood — suspicious of government, mistrustful of incumbents, thirsting for authenticity.

“Jamie’s been farming here for decades,” Ford said. “His people have been here for generations. He’s really well suited to fight for the people of Western North Carolina. He’s been driving all over District 11 just trying to listen to people (and asking), ‘What are you upset about? How are you doing? How’s your farm doing?’ And I think that’s what we’re hungry for.”

Asked how he planned to shield himself from attacks in the conservative 11th District tying him to unpopular Democratic policies, Ager is quick and direct.

“When people ask me if men should play women’s sports, I’ve got a one-word answer and that’s no,” he said. “I think it’s pretty clear that we have a Second Amendment in this country. I’m a rural person. We own firearms. We’re not here to take anybody’s guns away, and I support the Second Amendment.”

X factor: ‘Ager is a rookie’

Chuck McGrady, the former Henderson County commissioner and state House member, said if a blue tide grows big enough “anybody (in the Republican Party) that didn’t win their race by 20 points (in 2024) could be in a race.”

“Every day there’s something else that is happening,” he said, “whether it’s the war or oil prices or crazy things said on social media or Cabinet officials doing things that you just can’t imagine would have happened not that long ago.”

Whether Ager can withstand the heavy fire of a campaign is yet to be told, he said. While it can be an asset to run as a non-politician, a lack of experience can sometimes trip up a newcomer.

“The unknown there is that Ager is a rookie,” said McGrady, a Republican. “I just wonder how he’ll stand up when the campaign gets hot, whether he’ll be able to go toe-to-toe with Edwards, because Edwards will be well prepared.”

Bill Lapsley, the chair of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, sounds as if he’s not too worried about Edwards’s chances.

“I think he’s going to win, but I think it’s going to be closer than it was,” Lapsley said.

Does he think Trump will drag down the Republican incumbent?

“No, I don’t think so, at least in this neck of woods,” he said. “I’m sure you could name one or two things you wish (Trump) did different but the vast majority of things (he’s done) — most people in Western North Carolina support.”

Edwards, too, expresses confidence that voters won’t treat the election as a referendum on Trump.

“I think the people in Western North Carolina recognize how hard I’ve been working for them, how accessible that I have been, and I believe they’re going to make their decision on who they elect for Congress based off of what they know right in the district,” he said, citing 5,700 constituent service cases. “I’m confident that the people of Western North Carolina are going to make their decision based off of the merits of Chuck Edwards.”

Ford, the county Democratic Party chair, is counting on an election cycle that’s fairly common in the sixth year of an incumbent president’s tenure.

“I think there’s a lot of people, including me, that want some change in Washington, and I don’t think we get change by sending the same old people back there over and over,” she said. “We get change by sending somebody different.”