Democratic hopefuls sidestep gala flap as Clayton outlines long-term plan

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Democratic hopefuls sidestep gala flap as Clayton outlines long-term plan

North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton speaks at a meeting of Haywood County Democrats on Aug. 12. Cory Vaillancourt photo

The political rift over an upcoming Democratic gala — an internal dust-up that sparked chatter across Western North Carolina political circles — was nowhere in sight on Aug. 12, as three NC-11 congressional hopefuls stepped to the podium in Waynesville alongside state party chair Anderson Clayton.

Instead, the meeting of the Haywood County Democratic Party unfolded as a show of unity, with each candidate making their pitch to voters before Clayton delivered a sweeping speech on reclaiming the state’s judiciary and legislature ahead of the next decennial redistricting.

“I want you all to feel confident when you leave here about the plan for the state, because you all are a part of something much bigger than just here in Haywood County,” Clayton told a crowd of around 50. “You’re a part of something here in Haywood County, but you’re part of something statewide, too. And I need each and every one of you to believe that, and to want to get in this fight with me again.”

It was the first time three declared Democratic candidates for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District had appeared together in Haywood County since a weeks-old controversy over a Democratic Party gala roiled local activists.

The so-called “gala flap” — a dispute over the event’s keynote speaker, candidate Jamie Ager — had drawn criticism from some in the party’s base for presenting the appearance of favoritism. The district chair later resigned, after the district party apparatus acknowledged the mistake and opened up speaking opportunities for all candidates at the event.

At least one candidate, Asheville nurse practitioner and real estate investor Chris Harjes, was upset enough to pull out of the race — sort of. Harjes has said he would no longer actively campaign but hasn’t exactly withdrawn and has since launched a bid for that now-vacant NC-11 chair position. Democrats in the 11th Congressional District have not been able to secure stable leadership for the role for a decade or more.

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“Despite my lack of Party experience (or perhaps because of it) I can offer immediate value as a mascot, emcee, and figurehead for online presence, fundraising and media interaction,” Harjes said in a statement on the NC-11 Dems website.

District Secretary Karen Smith, a Macon County resident, has also thrown her hat in the ring.

“We have endured revolving chairs for too long,” Smith wrote. “I have actually lost count. I have served on the district officers board longer than any current member. I understand the work involved in implementing the work of this district. I think my service to the district proves that I can be counted on to stick it through.”

On Aug. 18, Haywood County’s Jesse Ross joined the race. Ross, the youngest candidate in the race, has a history of party activism that includes chartering Young Democrats chapters in 13 Western North Carolina counties and working on both local and national levels, serving as a 2024 delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“In my short time in this Party, I have been given the honor to see our party from the precinct unit all the way to the DNC. I know our party often is weighed down by drama and disputes that don’t move us forward,” Ross wrote. “However, there is no doubt in my mind the Democrat party in North Carolina, and in our region, are in the best position that they have been in for a long time and can make practical differences in the lives of the people who need to see them.”

Others are rumored to be interested in the position, which will be filled by an election on Sept. 3.

At the meeting, congressional candidates including Ager, Zelda Briarwood and Moe Davis focused on why they’re running and how they think they can win.

Briarwood told the crowd she’d been meeting more people across Western North Carolina than she ever anticipated and finding common themes.

“They are sick of the same old politics as usual,” she said. “They are sick of not having a representative that actually represents them and advocates for them, and that they’re done waiting for accountability to show up to Washington.”

Briarwood cited her work in residential treatment facilities, as a case manager for survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking and in the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office as evidence of her ability to advocate for marginalized residents.

“Western North Carolina deserves an advocate, deserves someone who is in it for them — not for profit, not for power, not for personal gain — and will not back down to the Trump administration and the complete lack of humanity that we are seeing from the Republican Party,” she said.

Former congressional candidate and 2020 nominee Moe Davis reminded the audience that that year’s race had been hampered by the onset of COVID-19.

“You can’t campaign in Western North Carolina — 3,000 homes don’t have broadband. You can’t reach them on Zoom. You gotta go there. And we couldn’t do that back in 2020,” Davis said of his 2020 defeat by Republican Madison Cawthorn, who served only one term after losing the 2022 Primary Election to the current congressman, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson).

Davis, a retired Air Force colonel, prosecutor and administrative law judge, said Democrats must form coalitions if they want to win in a district where they make up less than a quarter of registered voters.

“Democrats make up 24.5% of this district. Republicans make up 32%. Unaffiliated voters make up 42%,” Davis said. “There just aren’t enough of us to win. We can’t make this about Democrats and Republicans if we want a Democrat to win.”

He said his campaign motto — “kicking ass for the working class” — reflects the need to focus on issues that cut across party lines, like protecting veterans’ health care.

“Cutting the staff at the VA is not good for a Democrat or a Republican,” Davis said. “We want to look out for you and for everybody in Western North Carolina.”

Jamie Ager, a Fairview farmer and businessman, made his first appearance in Haywood County as a candidate, joined by his parents.

“My wife and I came back to the farm sort of young and idealistic about saving the family farm,” he said. “And now we’re in our late 40s … and we’re still idealistic and fired up about saving family farms and making agriculture work in this region.”

Ager described building a wholesale meat company over 25 years, working with farmers of varied political persuasions.

“These are the people that are really getting the thing done on the ground every day, and that’s what I’ve been doing for 25 years,” he said.

The speeches set the stage for Clayton, who delivered a wide-ranging address linking local organizing to a long-term strategy to retake the North Carolina Supreme Court before the next round of redistricting.

Clayton began by recalling last November’s election results, in which Democrats flipped two statewide races and won six overall — outcomes she said weren’t replicated anywhere else in the country. She credited rural volunteers for helping shift the political trend in the mountains, despite the Trump victory statewide.

“Western North Carolina was one of only three regions across the country that trended more to the left than it did the right last election cycle,” she said. “And you all should feel damn proud that we did that.”

Clayton detailed a three-step plan to reclaim North Carolina’s Supreme court, starting with last year’s successful defense of Justice Allison Riggs’ seat, followed by Justice Anita Earls’ reelection bid in 2026 and culminating in 2028, when three Republican-held seats will be on the ballot.

“We have the ability to take back our Supreme Court, and in 2029 make sure that partisan and racial gerrymandering is illegal again in the state of North Carolina,” she said.

She argued that court races directly affect national politics, noting that a fair congressional map in 2022 had produced a 7-7 partisan split in the state’s U.S. House delegation.

“If we did not have a gerrymandered North Carolina right now, Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) would be Speaker of the House today,” Clayton said.

Looking ahead to the next census and reapportionment, Clayton said North Carolina is likely to gain a congressional seat.

“We’re going to be able to dictate whether that seat’s a Democrat or Republican, too,” she said, urging attendees to start now by talking to friends and family about Earls and the stakes of the 2026 race.

While acknowledging the challenges of winning in NC-11, which some Democrats think is ripe for flipping, Clayton said the candidates on stage showed it could be done.

“We can convince folks to vote for a Democrat, but we’re going to have to show up in their communities even harder than we’ve done the last two years,” she said.

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