Incumbent Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards will go on to face Democratic nominee Jamie Ager in a high-profile contest later this year, after defeating his Primary Election opponent Adam Smith.

To the Editor:

Adam Smith, GOP primary candidate for Congress in the 11th district, had this to say about actual legitimate rallies or protests: “Let’s define it — ‘terror’ is the use of violence or the threat of violence and/or intimidation in order to advance a religious, political or societal ideology, and that’s what we’re seeing firsthand right now in Minneapolis,” he said.

Over the past decade or more, Western North Carolina Republicans have proven that the only candidates that can beat incumbent Republican congressmen are other Republicans. Adam Smith talks like someone who has already settled on that outcome and is now working backward to make it inevitable. 

“What conservative voters in the United States want to see is Republicans have the intestinal fortitude to do what they said they were going to do,” Smith said. 

Western North Carolina’s next election cycle is already shaping up amid a volatile mix of entrenched incumbents, disaster recovery fallout and deepening national divides, with competitive races stretching from the U.S. Senate on down to county-level offices. 

While marquee statewide contests appear to be headed toward familiar General Election matchups, cracks are emerging down the ballot, where public trust and institutional legitimacy are demanding attention from voters now more than any other time in recent memory. 

Paul Maddox has spent decades studying sickness. A cancer researcher, tenured professor and lifelong learner, he’s spent much of his career exploring how to heal the body. Now, Maddox says, he’s ready to heal something else.

With third-quarter fundraising reports now filed, campaign finance records show sharp contrasts in both fundraising totals and donor bases among candidates in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District as they look to Primary Election contests in March. 

Incumbent Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards reported raising $233,163 from January through September, with no personal contributions to his own campaign. 

Adam Smith says it’s time for a change and that he’s ready to stand up for Western North Carolina in ways incumbent Rep. Chuck Edwards hasn’t — particularly, in Hurricane Helene recovery.