This story has been updated to correct an inaccuracy.
ASHEVILLE – Jamie Ager, CEO and co-founder of Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview, confirmed July 15 that he will enter the race to represent North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, a seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, a second-term Republican from Henderson County.
Hickory Nut Gap farmer Jamie Ager poses with one of the about 200 turkeys on the Fairview farm on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. After the nearest small poultry-processing facility closed Ager and his family will have to process the birds themselves on the farm so they are ready in time for customers to have for Thanksgiving dinner.
“My hope is to bring working class roots to the Democratic party,” Ager said, citing his business experience and deep roots in the community. Ager said he plans to formally announce his candidacy in two weeks.
A fourth-generation farmer, Ager, 47, will likely face at least four Democratic opponents in a primary set for March 3, 2026.
Moe Davis, a retired Air Force colonel-turned author and podcaster, announced his bid for Congress in June. Davis, 66, ran for the same seat in 2020, losing to Republican Madison Cawthorn by 12 percentage points. Davis has also evoked the “working class” in his campaign messaging. Chris Harjes, a Buncombe County real estate investor and nurse practitioner, announced his run for Congress in May. Zelda Briarwood and Marcus Blankenship have also announced their bids for the seat.
Although this will be Ager’s first run for elected office, his family is steeped in Democratic politics. Eric Ager, his brother, is currently a state representative in the North Carolina General Assembly. His father John Ager served four terms in the state House, and grandfather, Jamie Clarke, served three non-consecutive terms in Congress.
North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District is typically a Republican stronghold. The last Democrat to win was former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler in 2006. Shuler defeated Charles Taylor, a long-time Republican congressman from Transylvania County. In 1990, Taylor defeated Clarke for the same seat Clarke’s grandson is now vying for.
Shuler served three terms in Congress and was succeeded by Republican Mark Meadows who went on to serve as White House chief of staff during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
Edwards was first elected to the U.S. House in 2022, defeating Cawthorn in the Republican primary, and then his Democratic opponent, former Buncombe County Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, in the general election. In 2024, Edwards beat then-state Rep. Caleb Rudow, earning a second term in Congress.
A race between Edwards and the top vote getter in the Democratic primary could prove competitive in 2026.
North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District was one of 19 districts across the country where voter support shifted away from Trump during the 2024 presidential election, Chris Cooper, a professor of political science and public affairs at Western Carolina University, told the Citizen Times in June. Cooper said the shift occurred at a time when most other districts moved more toward the Republican Party.
But Cooper cautioned that the shift, which resulted from redistricting and demographic changes, didn’t mean that NC-11 had turned “blue.”
“You’ve got a district that is certainly not competitive by standard metrics but is the kind of district that could possibly flip if there really is a blue wave,” Cooper said.
More: How Hickory Nut Gap became a staple on Asheville farm-to-table restaurant menus
More: Western NC farms, schools and food bank take hit from Trump administration funding cuts
Jacob Biba is the Helene recovery reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jbiba@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Jamie Ager, Hickory Nut Gap CEO and co-founder, running for Congress
