Chuck Edwards touted himself as someone who would work hard for his constituents and not get mired in controversy. He may not have been a flashy social media star, but he’d be steady and competent, the adult in the room.
In the wake of the scandal-plagued, feckless congressional term of Madison Cawthorn, that pitch was enough to land Edwards a House seat in 2023. Now, less than four years later, he is dropping out of the race for what would have been his third term in Congress, leaving Republicans scrambling to get the best candidate on the ballot ahead of a looming deadline.
Edwards is just the latest in a line of NC-11 representatives who’ve left office amid a heap of scandal.
Mark Meadows represented the district from January 2013 to March 2020. During his term, he was reprimanded by the House Ethics Committee for not firing — or even punishing — his chief of staff who’d sexually harassed other staffers. Prior to vacating his seat to become President Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff, he’d announced one day before the 2020 filing period closed that he wouldn’t seek reelection. Despite the late notice, 12 Republicans ran for the seat, including Maggie Valley real estate broker Lynda Bennett, who seemed to have advance notice of Meadows’ decision.
A heated primary election campaign to fill the vacant seat ended when Cawthorn defeated Bennett in a run-off election with over 65% of the vote. Barely old enough to hold the seat, Cawthorn struggled to gain a foothold in Washington. The strength of constituent services residents had come to expect while Meadows was in office suffered considerably. While in office, Cawthorn was fined for his participation in a pump-and-dump cryptocurrency scheme. He also faced numerous scandals, including abuse allegations and multiple weapons-related incidents.
Several Republicans emerged who hoped to primary Cawthorn. Chief among those challengers was Edwards, who pledged that he would build a record in Washington that his district would be proud of.
“The biggest problem in Washington is that we have too many DC politicians that have forgotten what their job is. I believe that people in the mountains are tired of the political rhetoric. They’re tired of the grandstanding and they’re looking for someone to go to Washington, DC, fight off the establishment, roll up their sleeves, and actually go to work,” Edwards told Business Insider in May 2022 just ahead of the primary.
Edwards had served three terms in the North Carolina Senate, where he’d amassed a good deal of power in a relatively short period. He bested the other seven Republicans in that primary, including Cawthorn, before defeating Buncombe County Democrat Jasmine Beach-Ferrara in the General Election with 53.8% of the vote.
The Henderson County resident, who made millions through his ownership of several WNC McDonald’s franchises, received endorsements from key Republican figures en route to victory, including U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.
“Republicans chose Chuck Edwards tonight because he is the embodiment of mountain values who will fight for them every single day in Congress with honor and integrity,” Tillis said in a news release following Edwards’ victory.
Edwards would go on to easily win reelection in 2024 over Democrat Caleb Rudow with about 57% of the vote. He cruised to victory in a primary held March of this year, defeating challenger Adam Smith with 70% of the vote.
Axios first reported that Rep. Edwards faced a House Ethics Committee investigation. The outlet led the way reporting details of the investigation with a slow drip of stories before the committee report recommending Edwards’ censure was released Aug. 3.
The report details a pattern of harassment and unwanted advances by Edwards toward a pair of young female staffers. During the campaign, Edwards pledged that he would get down to business in the House and wouldn’t be subject to criticism for missing votes on the floor as Cawthorn was. However, he skipped a vote to help one of the staffers decorate a Christmas tree and canceled a tele-town hall to meet her for dinner.
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee voted to recommend Edwards’ censure. A censure doesn’t mean Edwards would lose the seat — it actually doesn’t come with any penalty — but the political blow would likely be insurmountable. Although the House is on its August recess, that vote will likely occur when it reconvenes next month.
While Edwards had previously called the Axios reports outlining the improper relationships “horseshit,” following the release of the report, that tone changed. Instead of providing a denial of the allegations, a spokesperson dismissed their severity, saying that “the Committee findings completely exonerate Representative Edwards under the House rules governing sexual misconduct or harassment; they contradict the committee’s conclusion.”
Even prior to the Ethics Committee investigation becoming public, Democrat Jamie Ager appeared to gain ground on Edwards. Ahead of the damning report’s release, the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics moved the race from “leans Republican” to “toss-up.” Ager was also dominating Edwards in fundraising with an almost 9-to-1 advantage.
According to CNN, following the release of the report, House Republican leaders privately worked to convince Edwards to drop his reelection bid. The News & Observer reported that U.S. Sen. Ted Budd also encouraged Edwards to drop out of the race.
Edwards announced he was dropping out of the election but would serve out the rest of his term on social media at 3:32 a.m. on Aug. 5. The exit leaves a tight window to find his successor, as the final deadline for withdrawal is Sept. 3. Mail-in absentee ballots will be sent out Sept. 4. North Carolina law imposes a more restrictive requirement — the executive committee must select a replacement at least 75 days before Election Day, which in this case is Aug. 20.
Ager has been quiet on the allegations against Edwards, but he did release a statement on Aug. 5 responding to the news that Edwards was dropping out of the campaign. In that statement, Ager said that for too long, the region has been forgotten by politicians who sell us a “false bill of goods,” before going to Congress and treating Washington, D.C. as “their personal playground.”
“No matter who we face in November, I’m confident we can win this race and deliver what I’ve been talking about since day one: Hurricane Helene recovery, lower costs, and an end to the corruption in Washington,” he said.
Should Ager win, he would be the first Democrat to represent Western North Carolina in the House since Heath Shuler, who served from 2007-2013 before deciding not to run for a fourth term after redrawn districts all but ensured a Republican victory.
Edwards’ replacement on the ballot will be decided by the NC-11 GOP Executive Committee, made up of seven officers, 16 county chairs (Haywood’s chair, Kim Genova, is also the district treasurer), 15 county vice chairs (Haywood’s vice chair is currently vacant) and 24 at-large members, according to a roster obtained by The Smoky Mountain News. Chairing that committee is Merry Guy of Henderson County. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 10, at the Buncombe County GOP headquarters. Nominations will be taken from the floor at that meeting, and then the members will vote. According to an email obtained by SMN, there will be an informal meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. that will allow executive committee members to ask questions about the process.
A few names have been floated as top contenders — all sitting state senators: Tim Moffitt of Buncombe County; Kevin Corbin, of Macon County and Ralph Hise, of Mitchell County. Also in the conversation are state House Rep. Karl Gillespie, Christian Regan, who challenged Edwards in a 2024 primary, and Adam Smith, Edwards’ 2026 Primary challenger. While State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom’s name has been mentioned, she told The Assembly that she supports Moffitt.
Multiple regional GOP members with knowledge of the situation believe Moffitt is the frontrunner. While Moffitt didn’t respond to a request for comment from SMN, he said in a tweet that over the next few days, he’ll “be talking with leaders and neighbors across the district” about his potential candidacy.
Hise and Gillespie did not respond to a request for comment, but SMN spoke on the phone with Reagan, Smith and Corbin. Reagan said he was “definitely” vying for the position and that he let Merry Guy know earlier this week, even prior to Edwards’ resignation, that he’d be interested if it becomes available. Smith also said he is in.
“My hat never left the ring,” he said. “I’m still very much in the fight. The realistic aspect of where we stand right now is there is less than 90 days to campaign against a Democrat who has $3.5 million a war chest and has already spent $1.5 million in his effort. And Chuck didn’t do anybody any favors.”
Corbin told SMN that his phone has been “ringing off the hook” with people encouraging him to seek the nomination but that he hadn’t made a final decision. He said he will speak with his family and consider the ramifications of leaving the General Assembly seek the higher office.
The opening presents a conundrum for Moffitt, Hise and Corbin.
To gain the nomination, they’d have to give up their current seats. This means that a procedure like what’s about to play out to replace Edwards would have to play out all over again. In Corbin’s case, a likely replacement could be State House Rep. Carl Gillespie, and Balkcom, also a state House representative, could take Moffitt’s seat. If Gillespie or Balkcom were to appear on the ballot for a Senate seat, the district nomination process would play out a third time for the state House seat, even as the previously mentioned deadlines approach.
Any of those three senators would also take the opportunity at tremendous risk to their own political career. Whoever ends up representing the party will be thrust into a race for which they have no existing fundraising apparatus or campaign infrastructure, and no doubt Democrats will bludgeon that person with the previous Republicans’ scandal-ridden terms. Moffit, Hise and Corbin all have some seniority in the Senate. Corbin was recently appointed to chair the Education Committee and Hise has been on the fringes of the conversation to replace outgoing Senate Pro Tem Phil Berger. To run for Congress means to give up all they have worked for in the Senate.
While Edwards has raised a meager amount compared to Ager, the money he has on hand is transferrable to the campaign of whoever appears on the ballot. Chris Cooper, who heads up Western Carolina University’s political science program, said that the Republican nominee will need to focus on fundraising and getting their name out in the district. He added that the candidate will likely have to look outside the district for donors more than to if they’d been in the race near the beginning of the year.
“I don’t see any way they can match Ager’s money,” Cooper said. “They will have to, at the same time, run a new campaign and raise money.”