Jamie Ager enters NC-11 race with message of rural roots, business acumen
Jamie Ager’s entry into the NC-11 Democratic Primary Election had long been anticipated.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
On a fourth-generation family farm nestled in the hills just outside of Fairview, Jamie Ager spent his childhood watching the seasons change, the animals grow and the land evolve with the rhythms of life in the mountains. Today, that land is not only the site of a thriving regenerative agriculture business, but also the launching pad for a campaign that could reshape North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District.
Ager, 47, is a Democrat running for Congress in a district long dominated by conservatives, but he believes his experience as a farmer, businessman and community builder offers a compelling alternative to Republican incumbent Chuck Edwards — one rooted not in ideology, but in pragmatism, problem-solving and shared values across party lines.
“I’ve worked with my hands, I’ve been on a farm, I’ve done these things,” Ager said. “I’ve seen the challenges of being a working person trying to make it work. That’s different than a lot of people.”
Ager’s political roots run deep, and as with many families, dinner table conversation over decades helped shape his worldview. His grandfather, Jamie Clarke, served in the North Carolina House, North Carolina Senate and was elected to Congress fin 1982, 1987 and 1988, serving until 1991. His father, John, served in the North Carolina House from 2015 through 2023, and brother, Eric, is one of Buncombe County’s current House reps. But Ager is quick to reject the notion of any dynastic entitlement.
“At the end of the day, I care, and I think caring is why I’m running, not because of trying to uphold some image or whatever,” Ager told The Smoky Mountain News July 28. “My grandfather was a minister. I was always told that service is the way we are ultimately happiest as humans. When you’re a part of something larger than yourself, you’re happier and you feel like you’re on a mission. There’s no better feeling.”
As a farmer, Ager is intimately familiar with the agricultural challenges of Western North Carolina. A degree in environmental studies and sustainable agriculture from Warren Wilson College formed the foundation of Ager’s career.
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He and his wife Amy returned to the family farm in the early 2000s and began selling pasture-raised meats to local restaurants and co-ops. Today, the farm spans about 250 acres of family and leased land and supports approximately 25 local employees. The Ager family raises beef cattle, chickens, turkeys and pigs — all pasture-raised and hormone-free, using rotational grazing to promote soil health and carbon sequestration.
“Our mission is to build community through agriculture,” Ager said. “What we mean by that is really looking at the opportunity for business to drive change and represent to the customer a brand story that is good for the land, good for the animals and good for the people.”
That philosophy, Ager said, informs his politics. Despite coming from a family of progressive Democrats, Ager does have more than a little bit of that small-government conservativism that’s often found in people who work with their hands.
“My family’s legacy is kind of built around being environmentalists, which I 100% am, but I remember as a kid seeing some of this regulatory stuff come through, and when it hits the ground, it’s often kind of slightly ridiculous,” he said. “The idea around regulatory activity is to create change, and the challenge of putting regulations in that are effective and make sense on the ground is that they are often disconnected.”
He believes entrepreneurship is the key to creating a resilient agricultural system and wants to see federal policy shift from incentivizing the cheapest food possible to rewarding sustainable, soil-friendly practices. He’s also concerned about the loss of farmland in North Carolina — the state was recently ranked second in the nation for farmland loss, behind Texas — and supports conservation easements and smarter development to preserve agricultural land for future generations.
“This farm was put into a conservation easement, which I’m grateful for,” he said, of balancing affordable housing development with farmland preservation. “There’s probably a lot of different answers around more dense development in urban areas. Homes on 10-acre rural estates are not helping anybody.”
Ager said the federal government does have a role in farmland preservation, affordable housing and infrastructure, but those roles are often obstructed by bureaucracy. He pointed to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene as a vivid example. His family lost fencing, water lines and electricity. While the community rallied, federal aid was slow, confusing and overly complex.
“There were people trying to help, but it was hard to know who was doing what, where, when,” he said. “Mitigating risk for fraud and abuse is noble idea, but it often makes it hard to get the money where it actually is needed. I don’t know what the layers in that bureaucracy are, but in general, the people with the backhoes getting to work are the ones who are actually fixing things.”
Two months after Helene, then-Gov. Roy Cooper and a delegation traveled to the White House with a $25 billion request toward an estimated $60 billion in damage. Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, said he authored the relief bill that ultimately passed, but out of more than $100 billion in the bill, it’s estimated North Carolina will only receive $9-15 billion. Edwards has never responded to Smoky Mountain News inquiries about why the funding was so scant.
“That’s frustrating, yeah, the fact that Chuck Edwards said we’re going to get all this money, and [he] actually sits in roles that can help facilitate getting that money, and then not actually being clear about what’s going on, that’s a leadership problem,” Ager said.
He was similarly critical of Edwards’ response — or lack thereof — to the closure of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton, which cost more than 1,000 good-paying jobs across the region in mid-2023. After being informed of trouble at the mill prior to its closure, Edwards has repeatedly refused to say what, if anything, he’d done to prevent it from closing.
“I would have called the mill and asked for a meeting,” Ager said. “What can we do to help mitigate this problem? We could do some math pretty quick. This thing’s not fixable? Let’s come up with a plan for this community.”
As for the National Park Service, Ager and his family are avid park-goers and supporters. He opposes staffing cuts and supports increased federal funding for park infrastructure, calling the Smokies “a huge economic driver for our region.”
Edwards also refused to speak to SMN after a parking fee was implemented in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to help address a maintenance backlog. Congress has repeatedly failed to fund adequately what many call “America’s best idea,” over decades. Edwards refused to tell SMN what he’d done to prevent those maintenance costs from being passed on to visitors that drive Western North Carolina’s economy or what he’ll do about it in the future.
“It’s sort of this classic Republican move to defund things and then point out that they’re not operating well and to me, that’s just baloney,” Ager said. “Here in Western North Carolina, we have a pretty big commitment to the Smoky Mountains — most visited national park in the country. let’s be excited about that resource, invite people to the region and get some dollars flowing to our small towns.”
On entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and the VA — entitlements Edwards has refused to protect, even as Elon Musk’s DOGE attempted to close a Social Security office in Franklin — Ager is unequivocal.
“These are very effective ways to help those who need help,” he said. “These programs make America a great country and create the safety net that we all need.”
With two brothers who are veterans, one a wounded warrior, Ager views the VA as essential and said it should be strengthened, not undermined.
“These programs are terrific examples of how humans are generous and want to help other humans,” he said.
Ager also defended the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ sovereignty, criticizing Edwards for threatening to withhold federal highway funding in response to tribal members voting overwhelmingly to legalize cannabis.
“That’s where we definitely disagree,” Ager said. “They’re creating a ton of economic activity. Having the autonomy and the sovereignty to make their own decisions … that’s their right.”
While cautious about federal cannabis legalization and acknowledging problems with legalization in some western states, Ager said he supports learning from those experiments.
On economic policy, Ager was skeptical of tariffs and said that uncertainty is bad for business.
“We’re in the beef business,” Ager said. “These price increases that we’ve gotten on beef mean we have to pass along our cost to customers and it’s a huge amount of work to continue to monitor cost increases, to make sure your pricing is appropriate, to make sure that everybody’s margins are not eroded too much. That’s been the biggest challenge. The potential worry that we have around tariffs is just like, hey, every time you create destabilization, It creates potent the potential for more price increases.”
Ager struck a more moderate tone on guns and abortion, declining to promise sweeping legislative action but affirming his values.
“I’m generally not going to push too hard on Second Amendment stuff,” he said. “But when there’s gun violence and then you say we need to focus on mental health, and then you go defund mental health — that’s inconsistent,” he said.
He called himself “pro-choice and pro-family,” but emphasized the need to support families after children are born.
On LGBTQ rights, which are under attack from religious extremists, his simple affirmation probably says more than pages upon pages of policy statements or proposals.
“We live in a great country where freedom is granted to everybody in the Constitution,” he said. “So let’s do everything we can to make sure that’s how we roll.”
Ager supports continued aid to Ukraine and a strong NATO alliance. He’s critical of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and concerned that blind allegiance to Israel has become a partisan issue.
Asked how he compares to Moe Davis, the retired Air Force colonel who was the Democratic nominee for the 11th Congressional District in 2020 and entered the upcoming race a few months ago, Ager didn’t criticize directly but offered a contrast.
“I think one of the challenges the Democratic Party has is that we are very idealistic … but executing idealism is different than having an ideal,” he said. “That’s what we’ve done here at Hickory Nut Gap — executed on some idealism and figured out how to help create change.”
While Davis has been known in the past for his fiery rhetoric, Ager prefers what he called a “happy warrior” approach — measured, methodical and built on relationships.
“Executing on values requires collaboration and trust,” he said. “To me, that’s where the real work gets done.”
Though a Democrat, Ager said he’s been frustrated with the party’s urban-centric blind spots.
“There’s a level of condescension that comes out of urban areas for rural people,” he said. “That pisses me off.”
He believes the path to victory lies not in pandering to partisans but in speaking plainly to people of all stripes.
“The more we look at things through partisan lenses, the more we lose. I’ve got nothing but love for other people for solving hard problems,” he said. “If Republicans have good ideas, let’s listen. Let’s implement them.”
Asked if the district, recently rated at rated R+5, is truly winnable if he’s able to make it through a crowded Democratic field — Ager and Davis are joined by Zelda Briarwood and Chris Harjes — Ager didn’t hesitate.
“I think I win,” he said.
The Primary Election for seats in the General Assembly, Congress and U.S. Senate will take place on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
