|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The rains from Hurricane Helene began before dawn that September day, dumping more than two feet in the hills west of Swannanoa and flooding the little white church in the valley below. Fallen trees slammed into the church walls and opened a gaping hole in the sanctuary.
Nearly two years later, the Bee Tree Christian Church is gone. Only its rusted steeple remains, a lonely reminder of a storm that upended lives and altered landscapes throughout Western North Carolina.
“This has been so hard on people who lost everything,” said Pastor Mike Siemens.
Other storms—economic, political and personal—have roiled the race in the 11th Congressional District. But Helene recovery remains a dominant issue. Analysts say it’s the state’s likeliest Republican-held seat to flip. And with redistricting expected to net Republicans as many as seven seats nationwide, it’s a prime Democratic target.
Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards, a 65-year-old Henderson County businessman, is running for a third term in a district that he, like President Donald Trump, won easily in 2024. But Trump’s national approval rating has sunk amid public anxiety over rising inflation, soaring gas prices, the war in Iran, and policies that have threatened local jobs.
Edwards also faces a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that he created a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment.
His opponent is Democrat Jamie Ager, 48, a Buncombe County farmer and grandson of a former congressman. No Democrat has won the district since 2010, and Democrats trail both Republicans and independents in voter registration. In this heavily rural district, which covers 15 mountain counties in the state’s far west, Ager faces lingering distrust of his party.
A May New York Times/Sienna Poll showed Trump’s national approval had fallen to 37%, but it also showed 70% of voters were dissatisfied with the Democratic Party. That included 76% of independents. And the South was the only region where Republicans led on a generic congressional ballot.
Democrats say voter enthusiasm is on their side. Democratic candidates around the country have performed well in recent special elections. Several 11th District counties, thanks in part to an influx of retirees, increased their 2024 Democratic vote over 2020.
And “No Kings” protests have drawn crowds in several mountain communities—even in the small Cherokee County town of Murphy.
“I’m worried about this race,” said Margo Ackiss, a Republican activist from Murphy. “People are overly confident. When you have a ‘No Kings’ protest in Murphy—hello? Wake up!”
Paul Shumaker, Edwards’ consultant, acknowledged that Democrats “have greater intensity than Republicans do.” But, he said, “If [Republicans] fix that, a district like the 11th will come back into line.”
The last Democrat to hold the seat was Heath Shuler, who left in 2013. He was first elected in 2006, when he beat Republican Charles Taylor, who’d served eight terms.
“The political environment looks very similar to what it was when I was in office,” Shuler told The Assembly. “The reality of it is, who do the voters of Western North Carolina connect with the best? The people who decide those elections are the independent voters and moderates on both sides.”
Praising Trump
Republican Madison Cawthorn, who was 25 when he was elected in 2020 from the district, seemed addicted to controversy.
By the spring of 2022, he’d twice been stopped trying to bring a loaded gun onto flights, had a string of driving violations, and faced a congressional investigation into insider trading. He also claimed he’d been invited to Capitol Hill orgies and seen at least one lawmaker snort cocaine.
His main primary opponent in 2022 was Edwards, a state senator who owned a half-dozen McDonald’s franchises. One columnist called him the “actual adult” in the race. GOP Sen. Thom Tillis backed Edwards. He won by less than 1,400 votes in a crowded field.
He went on to win the general election easily and even more easily two years later.
Edwards has been a reliable GOP vote and Trump supporter. The conservative advocacy group Heritage Action gives him a lifetime rating of 71%, near the 74% average of House Republicans. The nonpartisan VoteHub gave him a “Trumpscore” of 100%, that is, he voted with the president on all the bills they tracked.
In an interview at his Hendersonville office with The Assembly, Edwards praised Trump.
“I very much agree with how he has approached keeping Americans safe,” he said. “Helping us reduce taxes that would have been devastating to working families. And … what he has done to roll back regulation and help cut red tape that was getting in the way of Americans’ lives.”
Asked if there are any areas in which he differs with the president, Edwards cited his “New York style of communicating. That’s far different than the way I would choose to communicate.”
Edwards’ lowkey style makes some Trump supporters wary. Michele Woodhouse, a former 11th District chair who ran in that 2022 primary, said Edwards “has to thread a needle.”
“MAGA Republicans don’t see Congressman Edwards as MAGA enough,” she said. “Moderate Republicans see him as too MAGA.”
In this year’s primary, Edwards defeated Adam R. Smith with 70% of the vote. Smith, a former Green Beret who organized helicopter missions to help people after Helene, said he didn’t think Edwards showed up enough in the district. He said he’ll “likely” vote for him in November but isn’t sure all Republicans will.
“[Some] voters will stay home,” he said, “and moderate conservatives will likely like the message they hear from Jamie Ager and vote Democrat.”
That would include former GOP state Rep. Chuck McGrady, once North Carolina’s top House budget writer. This year, he contributed to Ager’s campaign. He calls Edwards “a workhorse not a show horse.” But he also calls him “an absolutely reliable vote on everything and anything Trump has asked for.”
“Government is about checks and balances,” said McGrady, who’s now unaffiliated. “Congress is providing no checks. They’ve been a rubber stamp. … And it’s embarrassing.”
Identity Politics
Ager hates labels. Moderate. Centrist. Even “Blue Dog Democrat,” a label Shuler embraced.
“I don’t like any of those,” he told The Assembly. “I would just describe myself as what the party … has always represented, which is a party of working people.”
Ager grew up near what was once known as Sherrill’s Inn. It’s a 200-year-old former stagecoach stop in the Buncombe County community of Fairview. It was the home of his grandfather, former Democratic Rep. Jamie Clarke, and where his father, former state Rep. John Ager, still lives.
Jamie Ager and his wife, Amy, operate a 100-acre livestock operation on parts of Hickory Nut Gap Farm, land that’s been in the family for four generations.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted Edwards. Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg headlined a rally that drew hundreds to the farm in May. But Ager, who has never held elected office, calls both political parties “a mess.”
On issues from health care to affordability, he said, “It’s actually really unhelpful to have partisan context to go about solving these problems as opposed to practical, smart people who actually care about solving the problem.”
Sitting outside the farm store, Ager said he gets “frustrated with the Democratic Party because they spent so much time focusing on identity politics and not on everyday people.”
Ager says he supports the 2nd Amendment and opposes trans athletes in some sports. “If you ask me, should men play in women’s sports?” he said. “I have a one-word answer: No.”
“MAGA Republicans don’t see Congressman Edwards as MAGA enough,” she said. “Moderate Republicans see him as too MAGA.”
Michele Woodhouse, former 11th District GOP chair
But Republicans say no matter how hard he tries, Ager can’t distance himself from his party. “Democrats will demand that he votes down the line with the party standard,” said Smith. “Democrats don’t want moderate Democrats. They want party loyalty and nothing else.”
Shumaker said he expects GOP ads will convince voters that Ager would be beholden to liberal donors who are already pouring money into his campaign.
“If that is accomplished, it becomes a very simple race for Chuck Edwards,” Shumaker said. “They have to expose [Ager] for what he is. … This is the old bait-and-switch move the Democrats are trying to pull here.”
Ethics Investigation
The headline was dramatic: “Scoop: Rep. Chuck Edwards under investigation by House Ethics.”
Axios first reported the probe on April 30. A week later, it cited sources who questioned the congressman’s relationships with two female staffers. It quoted a handwritten letter in which he allegedly told one: “You are the most amazing woman. I only wish I could explain the joy and meaning to me for the time we spent together at the office—but especially away from it. … Your kindness, encouragement and light-heartedness have written a complex chapter in my heart that I will never stop reading.”
NOTUS, The Assembly’s Washington-based news partner, reported in early May that three sources said Edwards had an affair with a former staffer who was initially hired as an assistant when he was a state legislator. Axios later reported on alleged outings to bars and casinos as well as “unwanted attention” to a female staffer.
Edwards, who has been married since 1980, vigorously denied the allegations to The Assembly in early May. “In the mountains we have to shovel horseshit,” he said in his first public comments on the matter. “In D.C., I have to deal with horseshit. And these allegations are more horseshit.”
Asked if he’d ever had a romantic relationship with a staffer, he was blunt: “No.”
Shumaker said he’s confident that “at the end of the day [the investigation] will have no effect whatsoever.” He believes the Ethics probe “will be resolved in his favor before the election. I have full confidence, knowing Chuck Edwards.”
Edwards is only the latest 11th District congressman to face an investigation.
In 2022, the Ethics Committee cited Cawthorn for promoting an anti-Biden cryptocurrency. His predecessor, Republican Mark Meadows, was fined by the committee for continuing to pay a staffer who had been fired after complaints of inappropriate behavior toward female colleagues. The committee investigated Shuler over a land deal before eventually clearing him. And associates of Republican Charles Taylor, who served from 1991 to 2007, were convicted in a bank fraud case involving the lawmaker’s bank, though Taylor wasn’t charged.
But House Ethics investigations—which this year have led to the departures of two members—can drag out. Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at Raleigh’s John Locke Foundation, said Edwards doesn’t need that.
“It’s probably going to be a really close race,” Jackson said, “and he can’t afford to have that thing hanging over him.”
Tariff Trouble
Brent Graves is CEO of Cane Creek Cycling Components, a small manufacturer in the hills outside Fletcher. He remembers the day he feared his company might have to close: April 2, 2025, when Trump announced a 32% tariff on Taiwan. Cane Creek uses components from there and elsewhere for its specialty bicycle parts.
“That was putting us on a course to go out of business,” Graves said in an interview.
Though tariffs were later reduced, Cane Creek had to cut its staff by a quarter and forgo profit sharing and cost-of-living pay increases. “We’ve been able to tread water,” Graves said.
In May, he was one of four business leaders with similar stories who met with Edwards in Flat Rock to talk about the effects of tariffs.
“I was surprised at how little he was aware of the [effects of] tariffs on his constituents,” said Graves, who is unaffiliated.
The Pew Research Center this year found that six in 10 Americans disapprove of Trump’s tariffs. A CNN Poll in May found that 70% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy. And 77% described the nation’s economic conditions as “poor.” That included 45% of Republicans. But some Republicans look at the bright side.
“In general, I think people understand that our economy is in a great place,” said Merry Guy, the 11th District GOP chair. “Unemployment is down. The stock market’s up. … People understand that the temporary elevation of prices while Trump makes sure we don’t have a nuclear Iran [is] a good trade off.”
Not everybody thinks so.
“No one is going to the gas pump, the grocery store, or out to eat and feel that things are better,” said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers, a Democrat. “Nothing is changing the DNA of [Western North Carolina] more than affordability. Period.”
Slow Helene Response
All those headwinds for Edwards aside, few issues have more emotional resonance or human costs than hurricane recovery.
North Carolina has estimated the cost of Hurricane Helene at nearly $60 billion. Last fall, Gov. Josh Stein asked the federal government for $19 billion. Through March, the federal government had provided $7.8 billion. Ager says that’s not enough.
“[Edwards] didn’t get the money. He didn’t fight for the people here in North Carolina to get back on our feet,” Ager said. “If … you have all the levers of power in government, to not fight for the people here in western North Carolina is not okay.”
Local governments spent millions of dollars on recovery efforts. After an application process, they expected to be reimbursed by the federal government, as they have been in the past.
“There’s no question,” Edwards said, “that funding due to local governments was far slower than any of us would have anticipated. We thought … the response of the federal government would be quicker.” He said he’s worked in Congress to speed payments and reform FEMA.
A year after the storm, Western N.C. counties were still waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to approve the purchase of flood-prone properties. According to The Washington Post, more than 800 people had applied for so-called hazard mitigation grants by the end of last year. None had been approved. But this year, FEMA has greenlit more than 350 properties, state officials said.
Trump floated the idea of killing FEMA on a visit to Asheville early last year. “I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” he said.
FEMA remains, but other factors hobbled its performance.
One was this year’s 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which prompted FEMA to drastically restrict spending. Another was then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s requirement that her office approve any contract or grant over $100,000. Edwards said things have improved under Noem’s successor, Markwayne Mullin, a former Republican U.S. senator from Oklahoma, who revoked the sign-off policy.
“I was excited to see the new vigor from the higher echelon in FEMA,” Edwards said. He’s toured hard-hit areas with Mullin in recent weeks.
“If … you have all the levers of power in government, to not fight for the people here in western North Carolina is not okay.”
Jamie Ager, Democratic candidate in District 11
Smathers, the Canton mayor, said Edwards has been responsive. “He has definitely helped the town of Canton,” he said.
Ralph Hamlett knows what it’s like to lose a home. It’s happened to him twice.
In 2021, Tropical Storm Fred caused structural damage to his home on the Pigeon River in Canton. His family had to move. The 2024 hurricane all but destroyed the house.
“A home is much more than a house,” said Hamlett, a town alderman and a Democrat. “It was a place of our daughters’ dreams as little girls and a place of my dreams.”
Hamlett, a retired college professor, cuts FEMA some slack.
“I went to several FEMA meetings and saw people disgruntled because they wanted something yesterday,” he said. “But FEMA was doing the best they could, and actually they still are.”
‘How Many You Need, Bud?’
Few places were hit harder by the storm than Swannanoa. The community, 10 miles east of Asheville, was ground zero.
The Swannanoa River peaked at more than 27 feet. It washed over U.S. 70, the main commercial strip, and wiped out bridges and businesses and the old mill homes in an area known as lower Beacon.
Two weeks before the 2024 election, Trump stood before a pile of rubble at a car repair shop on U.S. 70 and promised a full recovery. “When I’m president,” he said, “every single inch of every property will be fully rebuilt, greater and more beautiful than it was before.”
Today, homes in lower Beacon are being repaired. But temporary trailers sit in front of other houses with official signs barring entry. The Ingles grocery store on U.S. 70 is still closed.
Just down the road, a line of people stretched into the parking lot for the Blessing Project, a nonprofit supported by donations. Its dozen small buildings—trailers, a shipping container, and even showers—wrap around a makeshift courtyard. Volunteers distributed free food, clothing and household items.
Kristen Hicks stood inside a food truck cooking hot dogs. “How many you need, bud?” she called out to a waiting client.
Hicks, 39, owned a social media marketing company but started the Blessing Project shortly after the hurricane. What she thought would be temporary has turned into a long-term labor of love.
“A lot of people think the Helene recovery is done and over with,” said Hicks, who lives in Swannanoa. “There’s still a drastic need. … There are still hundreds of people without proper homes.” She said most were not happy with the FEMA response.
She looked out over the two dozen or so people waiting in line or milling around the courtyard. “We say we were birthed out of a hurricane, but we’re here for the hardship,” she said. “They aren’t going anywhere. And neither are we.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.