Politics

Edwards's withdrawal may touch off dominoes in Henderson County

By BILL MOSS, of the Lightning, and LILLY KNOEPP, of NC Local, Published: August 6, 2026

U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards's announcement early Wednesday that he is abandoning his re-election campaign is sending big shockwaves through Henderson County, not only the home of Edwards but also of two candidates being talked about to replace him on the Nov. 3 ballot.

“After much prayer and reflection, I’ve decided to withdraw from my re-election campaign. I will complete my current term,” Edwards, 65, wrote on X at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

The early morning announcement came less than 48 hours after the House Ethics Committee released the results of its two-month long investigation into Edwards's conduct. The panel recommended that the congressman be publicly censured on the floor of the House. While the committee said it found no evidence that Edwards engaged “in sexual activity with or explicitly propositioned” any employees, it recommended censure — the harshest punishment for a House member short of expulsion — for what it called "persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers."

In his formal response, Edwards’s attorneys and campaign team said the findings “exonerate” Edwards and called the censure “an extraordinarily harsh and infrequent punishment.” 

For Western North Carolina Republican leaders, Edwards's withdrawal was at once a relief and a ticking-clock challenge to find a viable replacement on the Republican side against Democratic nominee Jamie Ager, a Fairview farmer who already had built a substantial fundraising lead over the Republican incumbent.

Nowhere is the pressure  — and opportunity, GOP strategists might say — greater than in Henderson County. Home to Edwards and his wife, Teresa, who live in Kenmure in the village of Flat Rock, the second-largest county in the 11th Congressional District is also the home of state Sen. Tim Moffitt, who could wind up on the congressional ballot. It's also home to state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, widely considered to have the inside track to replace Moffitt should he move up.

Michele Woodhouse, the former chair of the NC 11 committee, told the Asheville Watchdog that party leaders were “trying to clear the field” for Moffitt. But she also told the news outlet that the Republican nominee faces a steep challenge. The candidate "will have to create a campaign, hire staff, hire a campaign manager, make ads and print signs, and then traverse a district of more than 6,000 square miles,” she said. 

Possibly as soon as next week, the 61-member 11th Congressional District executive committee must agree on a candidate to replace Edwards. That committee also happens to be chaired by another Henderson County resident, Merry Guy.

The situation potentially presents a series of dominoes that would leave the GOP with an even tighter shot clock for finding other replacements. If Moffitt is the pick for Congress, it's possible that Balkcom or Jake Johnson, the two House members representing Henderson County, would try for his seat, setting up the need to name a replacement for either one of them.

Here's more coverage of the current landscape by Lilly Knoepp of the NC Local news website:

What happens now?

Because ballots have not yet been finalized, there is time to put a Republican nominee up against Ager in the general election.

“We should be fine procedurally at this point. I mean it is late, but it is not the kind of late that election administrators can’t handle,” Western Carolina University professor Chris Cooper said. “Now the power moves from the voters into the hands of the NC-11 Republican Executive Committee."

The chair of the committee is Guy, a former Henderson GOP party chair who ousted another Henderson County Republican, Michelle Woodhouse, for the position in 2025. 

Representatives from each county GOP party are chosen by their respective parties to serve on the NC-11 committee. A list of executive committee members is not publicly available. A similar process happened earlier this year when Rep. Mike Clampitt passed away and was replaced as a candidate for November on the ballot by current-Rep. Anna Ferguson. 

“It’s pretty complicated. First they have to agree about who they want, but also presumably people are going to be running almost little shadow campaigns where they are going to signal that they are interested in this position,” Cooper said. “Just because the executive committee says they would like it to be a certain person doesn’t mean that person will want to clear their schedule and run for Congress.” 

According to state law, the committee must make its selection at least 75 days before the general election, which would be Aug. 20.

The committee will meet Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Buncombe County Headquarters to choose a replacement nominee for Rep. Chuck Edwards, according to reporting by Axios, which was the first to report on Edwards's conduct in the workplace with the two young women.

What about his campaign funds?

While Edwards will be replaced on the ballot, his campaign funds will also be up for grabs. The campaign must make a decision about how to redistribute or return the funds within 60 days, according to the Federal Election Commission rules.

The funds can be transferred from one federal campaign account to another federal campaign, Cooper said. Under FEC rules, the campaign may also elect to donate the money to charity or return it to donors, but the rules prohibit spending for personal gain.

Recent campaign finance reporting showed Edwards with less than $1 million funding, trailing Ager, who has raised more than $3 million. 

“Whoever the new candidate is is going to have to hit the ground running with fundraising.  They’re going to almost have to run two campaigns at once: The local campaign for votes but also a national campaign to fundraise because they will start in a deep hole,” Cooper said. 

No matter what the war chests hold, NC-11 is still a Republican district, Cooper said.  

“Other than Buncombe County, no other county has voted for a Democratic candidate for president since 2008,” he said. “So it is not the case that Jamie Ager has a walk in the park to victory.”