Guns, barn dances and farmland are common in the mountainous 16-county 11th Congressional district in Western North Carolina. This midterm election, those pieces of Appalachian heritage have become part of the political rhetoric in a new way. NC Local spoke with Republican candidate Jennifer Balkcom and Democratic candidate Jamie Ager about what policies are behind their version of “mountain values,” and insights behind their recent campaign ads. 

The district has become one of Democrats’ best chances in the state to flip power in the U.S. House of Representatives – with millions of national dollars in the race to prove it. It pits two farmers against each other in an increasingly purple district. (Libertarian Travis Groo is also on the ballot.)

The race took an unexpected turn when Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards, who had held this seat since being elected in 2022, announced in August he was dropping out of the election after the primary. His announcement followed a national ethics committee investigation which leveled accusations of sexual harassment and a toxic work environment.

Mama says support parental rights and farmland 

With fewer than 80 days of campaigning, Jennifer Balkcom has tried to make her mark as a candidate with splashy ads highlighting her “mountain values.”

The first ad featured Balkcom and her mother, Kathy Ward-King, reflecting on single parenthood (Balkcom’s father had passed away) and recalling an instance where Ward-King says she fired a shot at a trespasser. In the ad, Balkcom also explains that her mother raised her to be tough. 

“[The shooting] happened when I was still in high school,” Balkcom recently told NC Local in Swain County. “It was 30 years ago, but that’s how we lived. That’s how I grew up and it was tough and we didn’t take no crap from anybody.”

Asheville Watchdog has reported there aren’t records of the shooting in Henderson County. WLOS reported that a source familiar with the incident confirmed that it happened in the 1990s. Balkcom’s campaign told NC Local that her mother was “cleared of any wrongdoing.” 

In August, Balkcom was chosen by the district’s GOP committee to take Edwards’ place on the ballot. Balkcom, who works as a mortgage loan officer, was previously elected to the N.C. House of Representatives in 2022.  

Balkcom said her legislative priorities are “faith, family and freedom.” Examples she cited: 

  • Farmland preservation. Balkcom pointed to the NC Farmland and Military Protection Act (H133). She was a primary sponsor in the most recent legislative session. The bill became law in July. The law prohibits the purchase of farmland by foreign entities among other protections.   
  • Parent’s rights. Balkcom sponsored the Parent’s Bill of Medical Rights (H519) last year. The bill passed the state House in May but stalled in the Senate. The bill would have granted parents more access to their children’s health records by repealing existing laws on children’s privacy in some situations.   

Balkcom said her experience in elected office sets her apart from her opponents.  

Last week, Vice President JD Vance announced of an additional $858 million for Helene recovery funding at a rally in Hendersonville in support of Balkcom’s campaign. Balkcom referenced this as an example of funding that was badly needed in the region.

Balkcom said she appreciated Vance and President Donald Trump’s endorsement. 

“I’m humbled to have that many people who are supporting what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Balkcom, who appeared with Trump at a rally in Greenville last week. 

Last week, Balkcom’s team put out an AI-generated ad showing Ager hosting a barn dance of local drag performers at Buncombe County-based Hickory Nut Gap Farm, which Ager co-founded. When asked about the ad and the use of AI, Balkcom said it was important to share this information about Ager. 

“I think people just need to know what’s out there,” she said. “Fact is fact. Sometimes it hurts to know the truth but they need to know who they will be electing to go to Washington.”

Democratic ads critique Balkcom‘s work with Duke Energy. Balkcom’s campaign said that “liberal policies” are the reason for high energy prices. 

“Jennifer Balkcom has always fought to lower energy prices – and she’ll continue to do that in D.C.,” Balkcom’s campaign manager, Courtney Taylor, told NC Local in an email. “Jamie Ager will support the job-killing Green New Deal and empower radical liberals to raise energy prices through the roof.”

Independent mountain thinking

Ager disputes Balkcom’s barn dance ad.

“It’s really sad to see our politics devolve into AI-generated bullcrap. And I think it’s backfiring,” Ager told NC Local. 

The ad does not include a disclaimer that artificial intelligence was used to create the video. North Carolina is in the minority of states that have no regulations on AI usage in campaign ads, according to the News & Observer. 

Ager told NC Local he’s never hosted an event with drag performers at the Hickory Nut Gap Farm barn, and said such an event probably would never happen. 

“It’s not really something that we’re super interested in,” he said. “I mean, we’re an Appalachian culture place. And we are focused on what’s good for the business and bringing good people out to the farm.”

Balkcom’s ad stems from a 2019 Breitbart story about an event on the farm. Some local performers depicted in the ad say they were not present at the event. 

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Reilly Richardson confirmed to the Asheville Citizen Times that a cease-and-desist letter was sent by one of those shown in the ad, but said the committee had no plans to stop running it. The N.R.C.C. paid for the ad, which was approved by Balkcom. 

Another portion of the ad claims that Ager’s campaign donated $5,000 to Blue Ridge Pride, an LGBTQ+ organization in Asheville. FEC filings show Ager’s campaign made the donation, but Blue Ridge Pride shared that the donation was a sponsorship for the 2026 Pride Festival. The nonprofit rejected the application and refunded Ager’s donation. 

“Pride is a sacred space for LGBTQ+ expression, not a platform for political candidates,” Blue Ridge Pride President Madison Root said in a statement. 

When asked about his LGBTQ+ policies, Ager said that he supports Americans’ “ability to be free.” 

“We  live in the best place in the world, America, and people have the ability to be free,” he said. “And I ain’t hating on anybody in this campaign. We love Western North Carolina. I’m going to represent all the people of Western North Carolina.”

He agreed with Balkcom that he supports parent’s rights legislation. 

“The government should be supporting parents to empower the parents to have full agency over their children,” Ager said. 

Ager sees himself as an independent thinker whose policies differ from the Democratic Party on the 2nd Amendment and a need for fewer business regulations. 

“There’s a lot of independent mindedness here in Western North Carolina,” he said. “That’s definitely something I’ve learned, they don’t want to vote for a straight party. They want to vote for a leader who’s going to be a little different than the straight party and have an independent mind.” 

For Ager, “mountain values” boils down to policies that embody the value of “being a good person, loving your neighbor, like Jesus tells you to” and hard work. For example, he said he supports:

  • Helene Recovery: Ager explained that across the region, people are still waiting for Hurricane Helene relief. He hopes to be able to get funding into people’s hands more quickly than the current leadership. 
  • Lowering costs: Ager said voters across the region continue to complain about the high costs of housing, healthcare and living overall. 
  • Cut some regulations: Ager pointed to increased operational costs on his own farm related to business regulations such as the federal EPA standards on his farm’s diesel tractor and housing regulations that make it harder to build. 
  • Anti-corruption: Ager supports a ban on members of Congress trading stocks and wants to work to stop gerrymandering. 

Ager’s family has a long political history in the region. His grandfather, Jamie Clarke, was the region’s representative in Congress in the 1980s. His father, John Ager, served four terms in the N.C. House, and his brother Eric Ager served two terms in the N.C. House of Representatives and is currently seeking re-election. Each of them were elected as Democrats.

Ager said he and his wife see themselves as “middle of the road people.” 

“I think so many people [are] kind of lost in the political world [with] their identities so wrapped up in their political beliefs. And for me, that’s just never been true,” Ager said. “I’ve got friends [who] aren’t voting for me and I’m fine. I’m still friends. I don’t see those political lines as significant barriers to a good relationship.”  

The Balkcom and Ager campaigns have traded ads about Duke Energy prices and data center support. Ager said he doesn’t support data centers. 

“I think that we need to be very suspicious of data centers, AI,” he said. “I hear about this all the time in our community: People are cynical about the fact that AI can help people.”

A turnstile district

North Carolina’s 11th U.S. Congressional district has seen a churn of elected officials and scandal since Rep. Mark Meadows (R-Macon) unexpectedly announced in 2019 that he would not seek re-election. Meadows made the announcement less than 24 hours before the filing deadline for the primary election and later became Trump’s chief of staff in 2020. Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper explained that was a pattern in the district. 

“It’s a district that has suffered in terms of representation,” he said. “So there was a period of time after Mark Meadows resigned where then-governor [Roy] Cooper did not call for a special election where the district had no representative for the better part of a year.” 

Madison Cawthorn ultimately took over Meadows’s seat; his term featured numerous scandals, such as bringing a handgun to an airport and allegations of sexual assault. Amid the scandals, Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) beat Cawthorn in the 2022 Republican primary, leaving Cawthorn to serve the remainder of his term as a lame duck. When Edwards dropped his reelection campaign this year, he didn’t resign his seat in Congress, creating a similar situation as the end of Cawthorn’s term.

“Since Chuck Edwards announced that he would not run again, he’s also had divided attention,” Chris Cooper told NC Local. “I don’t think anybody would argue that the district has gotten good representation over that time.”

Cooper is working on a book about the history of NC-11. Edwards’ decision to drop out of the race late has also given Balkcom a limited runway to campaign. 

“Jamie Ager’s been running a campaign for over a year,” Cooper said. “He’s been able to slowly put his people in place, roll out a media strategy, roll out a campaign strategy, adjust to changes in the environment. Jennifer Balkcom has had to build a ship and sail it at the same time and that is incredibly hard.” 

He explained that the idea of “mountain values” in political campaigns in this region is nothing new. 

“Neither Jennifer Balkcom, nor Jamie Ager invented this line. It’s been used by Democrats and Republicans in this district for generations,” Cooper said. 

For the last few election cycles, the district’s demographics have continued to change. Cooper explained that Buncombe, Transylvania and Henderson counties have made the largest move toward the left of any counties in the state. 

However, no county in the region — except for metropolitan Buncombe County, home to Asheville — has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 2008, Cooper said. There are pockets of Democrats in towns across the region, while the counties remain majority red. 

“So even though it shifted and it’s become much more purple, I don’t think anybody should mistake this for a blue district that is guaranteed to stay in Democratic hands — if it even gets there this time,” Cooper said. 

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Lilly Knoepp is NC Local’s regional reporter for Western NC, where she helps residents understand how they are affected by statewide issues. She served as Blue Ridge Public Radio’s first full-time...