Current State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom will replace Chuck Edwards as the Republican on the ballot for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District seat.
Balkcom was nominated by the district GOP executive committee the evening of Aug. 10 at Buncombe County’s party headquarters.
The process began with early morning tweet on Aug. 5, wherein Edwards announced he would no longer seek a third congressional term. The withdrawal came on the heels of a damning House Ethics Committee report that detailed a pattern of harassment by Edwards toward a pair of young female staffers.
Balkcom is a Henderson County small business owner who’s served two terms in the North Carolina House. Although she was running for a third, she will have to leave that campaign to appear on the ballot for NC-11.
From the time Edwards said he wouldn’t seek reelection, the list of potential replacements ebbed and flowed as rumors spread and were just as quickly squelched. The day of the announcement, Sen. Kevin Corbin expressed interest in the position but within hours said he was out. Sen. Tim Moffitt emerged as an early favorite but bowed out on Aug. 8.
The day of Edwards’ announcement, while some Republicans initially expressed interest in Balkcom running, she said she’d refrain and would instead support Moffitt. That day, both Adam Smith and Christian Reagan told SMN that they would run. Smith later withdrew, and Reagan continued to seek the nomination. On Aug. 8, a candidate list obtained by The Smoky Mountain News indicated that the candidates were Moffitt, Sherry Higgins, Chad Nesbitt, Ken McKim and Kristie Sluder.
Around that time, the talk around the district was that state Rep. Karl Gillespie, of Macon County, was throwing his hat in the ring, but the afternoon of Aug. 9, he told party leaders that wouldn’t be the case. When a new list of candidates obtained by SMN was released a bit later, it included Sluder, McKim, Nesbitt and newcomer Matthew Burril. It also included Balkcom.
Now that Balkcom has secured the nomination, she will face off against Democrat Jamie Ager in what may become one of the higher-profile congressional races in the country.
Check back with The Smoky Mountain News tomorrow for a full story.