The race for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District is set. Rep. Chuck Edwards handily won the GOP primary Tuesday, while farmer Jamie Ager bested four other Democrats to win his party’s nomination. The race is already among the most closely-watched in the country.
With 91% of precincts reporting, Ager was leading the Democratic race with nearly 65% of the vote. Physician and former Blue Ridge Health CEO Richard Hudspeth was a distant second with nearly 16%, followed by mental health practitioner Zelda Briarwood with 13%, cell biologist Paul Maddox with 5% and civil engineer Lee Whipple with about 1%.
On the Republican side, Edwards coasted to victory over primary challenger Adam Smith. Edwards took 70% to Smith’s 30%.
In a speech to supporters in Hendersonville shortly after the Democratic race was called, Ager struck a bipartisan tone, pledging to represent “all of the people of Western North Carolina.”
“We don’t care what political party you are,” Ager said. “We want Western North Carolinians to thrive in the future. And to me, I’m going to do everything I can. I don’t care which party it is. Whatever vote helps the people of this region, that’s the way I’m going to vote.”
The 11th Congressional District covers most of Western North Carolina. Edwards has represented the district since 2023.
Among the five Democrats, Ager had been the frontrunner in terms of fundraising and political buzz. As of the end of last year, he had more cash on hand than all of the other Democrats combined. He even outraised Edwards.
Ager comes from a family that’s long been active in state and federal politics. His grandfather represented the 11th District in the 1980s, and his father was a state representative — a title that Ager’s brother, Eric, currently holds.
The 11th District race has already drawn national attention. Last week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named Ager to its “Red to Blue” program. The initiative provides fundraising and strategic support to candidates the DCCC hopes will flip Republican-held districts.
Edwards addresses supporters from Washington
Incumbent Edwards easily beat back a challenge from first-time candidate Adam Smith.
“ I appreciate the folks that knocked on doors, that put up signs, that returned emails, that made calls that worked out at the polls. But more than anything, I appreciate those folks that believed in me enough to do that,” Edwards said. He appeared via Zoom to a room of about a dozen staff and supporters at a Veterans of Foreign Wars building in Hendersonville.
Edwards said he was in Washington for a classified briefing on military operations in Iran.
Edwards ran a nonconfrontational campaign, declining to debate Smith and relying on his track record in office to keep a comfortable lead in the race. He also outraised Smith nearly 10-to-1.
Edwards has maintained his grip on the district since 2022 when he defeated Jasmine Beach-Ferrara and David Coatney for the NC-11 seat. In 2024 he beat out Democrat hopeful Caleb Rudow by about 60,000 votes.
Critics on the right complained of Edwards' lack of accessibility and recent voting history. Those on the left see him as aligning too closely with President Donald Trump.
Democrats have come up short in their efforts to win the district in recent years. But 2026 may be their best chance yet, according to Erin Covey, House editor for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter.
“This is a district that voted for Trump by about nine points in 2024,” Covey told BPR in an interview earlier this month. “But it's also one of the few parts of the country that has actually been consistently trending in Democrats' favor over the past decade.”
The slow pace of federal Hurricane Helene aid may also play a role, Covey said.
The Cook Report moved the 11th District race from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican” last fall.
