Democrat Ager flips Edwards’s North Carolina House seat

Democrat Jamie Ager is projected to flip North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District seat, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ). The seat became open when Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) decided not to run for reelection amid his censure in the House over misconduct allegations.

Ager, a fourth-generation farmer, is projected to defeat his opponents, North Carolina state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom (R) and libertarian Travis Groo, according to Decision Desk HQ , with more than 60 percent of the vote and 64 percent of ballots counted at 8:30 p.m. EST.

The Democrat focused his campaign on helping western North Carolina recover from 2024’s Hurricane Helene, widening access to affordable and accessible healthcare, reforming the U.S.’s immigration system and securing protections for national parks in the Tar Heel State.

Edwards, who has represented the district since January 2023, said earlier this year he was ending his bid for a third term — two days after the House Ethics Committee recommended lawmakers formally censure him after he violated the “spirit” of the chamber’s policies on sexual harassment against staff.

Members of the GOP’s executive committee for the 11th District selected Balkcom to run in Edwards’s place, 85 days before Election Day.

Ager’s bid was backed by former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who said Ager “brings a farmer’s sense of ethics to public service: care for what you’ve been given, think long-term, and leave things better than you found them.”

“At a moment like this, Jamie’s grounded, serious approach is exactly what we need in Congress,” Buttigieg added.

Ager notably distanced himself from the Democratic Party, writing on his campaign website that he has never been afraid to speak out “against his own party or taking on extremists,” calling himself a “mountain Democrat.”

“What I stand for is simple: I’m a Mountain Democrat. Always have been, always will be,” he wrote, according to the Asheville Watchdog , which Ager said meant “keeping our tax dollars spent here and not on wars overseas, defending our LGBTQ and immigrant neighbors and working to build a Western North Carolina that works for all of us.”