Cancer researcher Paul Maddox targets NC-11’s ills
The federal government is sick, says Paul Maddox, and he thinks he’s got the cure.
Maddox campaign photo
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.
“The government is not healthy right now. A healthy U.S. government operates with a balance of power so one branch of government cannot abuse power. That's broken in our government. It's a sickness,” he said. “I’ve been serving in the fight against cancer for a long time, and now I’m ready to serve Western North Carolina in Congress.”
Raised in the Bent Creek area just outside Asheville, Maddox graduated from Enka High School before heading to UNC-Chapel Hill, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. After completing his PhD in 2003, he moved to San Diego with his wife — also a scientist — for postdoctoral training at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. They returned to Chapel Hill in 2013 as professors in the Department of Biology, each still teaching and conducting research. Maddox is registered to vote in Orange County.
Maddox’s campaign launch didn’t come as a surprise, and is merely a formality; he’s been campaigning for some time now and gave a rousing speech at the Dems’ 11th District gala in Asheville in August during which he described himself mathematically as “within the margin of error for the center of a bell curve” that puts most Americans somewhere near the middle.
He now joins a growing field of Democrats hoping to unseat two-term Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District. Democrats, hoping for a midterm surge, are increasingly eyeing Western North Carolina as a chance for a flip. On Oct. 23, Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the conservative John Locke Foundation rated the district at R+4.
Like his rivals, Maddox frames his candidacy as a response to dysfunction in Washington, but unlike them, he speaks about politics with the language of science — identifying symptoms, diagnosing problems and prescribing treatments. That centrist approach defines his policy priorities, especially on health care, which he calls both a moral and practical issue.
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“There’s a small health center that my mother uses,” he said. “My mother’s 84 and still in good health, but she requires health care more often than a 54-year-old or a 34-year-old. That center is just a few miles from where she lives. If that place were to shut down because of lack of business or the cost of health care going up, she’d have to drive maybe 90 minutes to get care. For an 84-year-old person, that’s not practical. That’s not access to health care.”
He said supporting rural clinics should be a congressional priority, especially as Edwards voted for cuts to Medicare.
“My major concern would be to support these places and make sure that for every X number of people there’s a health center within a 15- or 20-minute drive,” he said. “You do that through legislation and not cutting programs like Medicare and fully funding FEMA, so people can rebuild after storms.”
That last point touches on the government’s response to disasters like Hurricane Helene. Maddox said that federal failure to deliver aid promptly illustrates Washington’s dysfunction and Edwards’ lack of advocacy — something he’s been called out on repeatedly, even by his Republican Primary Election Challenger Adam Smith.
“In Yancey County, the newspaper reported that the county commission has spent what they can, and there’s no money left for cleanup,” he said. “They’re expecting more money from FEMA; it’s not coming, and cleanup along the South Toe River has been delayed. That’s just one spot. Why isn’t Chuck Edwards in Congress right now beating the drum to get that money properly allocated? Either he doesn’t want to fix the problem or he doesn’t have the skills to fix the problem.”
That’s led Maddox to believe the problem with Edwards’ overall performance is his efficacy.
“I think his biggest failure is his lack of doing anything,” Maddox said. “Not standing up for the people of Western North Carolina, not evaluating problems and solving them — that inaction does a disservice to his constituents.”
Asked about social programs caught in the crossfire of gridlock in Republican-led Congress, like forthcoming disruptions to supplemental nutrition assistance programs, Maddox said lawmakers had lost sight of their purpose.
“These are politicians fighting for political angles,” he said. “They still get a paycheck, but this isn’t about somebody’s ego in Congress. It should be about getting health care to people.”
Reproductive rights, Maddox said, come down to a personal choice and personal freedom. The federal or state government “shouldn’t be telling people what to do with their bodies,” he said. Decisions should be made in consultation with a spiritual guide and/or a physician.
He offered a similar answer on cannabis policy, defending the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians after enrolled members in the sovereign enclave voted overwhelmingly to legalize medical and recreational cannabis. Edwards threatened to withhold federal highway funding from the tribe over the issue.
That same “personal freedom-first” philosophy applies to the LGBTQ community, which is facing unprecedented threats on a number of fronts.
“I don’t think government should have any say about whether you’re gay or straight or what have you,” Maddox said. “It’s not a good use of the government’s time or energy. You be you, I’ll be me, and we’ll all get along.”
On guns, Maddox said he’s a lawful owner who supports the Second Amendment but not unrestricted access to assault-style rifles.
“I own guns,” he said. “Mostly rifles. I don’t own an assault-style rifle. I don’t know why a civilian would need an AR-15. That’s a weapon designed to kill other people, and that thought frightens me. When I was growing up, we had nuclear fallout drills. Now kids have active-shooter drills.”
For Maddox, safeguarding lives extends beyond classrooms and city streets. He sees the health of communities and the land around them as inseparable parts of the same duty — to protect what sustains Western North Carolina’s future. Environmental protection and economic diversification, he said, are inseparable in a region dependent on tourism and natural resources.
“It’s a national treasure,” Maddox said of the abundant public lands across the region. “I would support and author legislation to strengthen protection of the National Park Service and National Forests. We need to ensure that our children and our children’s children can enjoy the wonders of Western North Carolina.”
Edwards has failed to advocate for National Park funding, which has led the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to implement a parking fee on visitors. Maddox said families shouldn’t have to pay for Congress’ failure to fund park operations.
“This goes part-and-parcel with tax breaks to billionaires. Even a very modest tax on the top 0.1% would probably more than fund the National Park Service,” he said. “These are fixable problems if Congress would just do its job.”
That same logic drives his vision for economic growth. Maddox left the region to pursue a career in research, and thinks there’s no reason it couldn’t one day become a research and innovation hub.
“People want to live here, but high-tech jobs aren’t available, so you have to go where the money is,” he said. “I’d love to see startups doing drug discovery in Western North Carolina. There’s a good population of smart, educated, hardworking people. It would warm my heart to combine the things I love — Western North Carolina and cutting-edge science. That would be the achievement of my life.”
Maddox also criticized Edwards on Social Security. Edwards has repeatedly refused to stand up to protect benefits earned by people who’ve worked their whole lives with the promise of receiving them.
“No one says, ‘I don’t want to get Social Security,’” Maddox said. “Maybe Chuck Edwards doesn’t need it, but most people do. Maybe we tax billionaires another 0.1% and fix this. I’m a scientist, not a politician, but these are solvable problems.”
Other problems, however, are more difficult to solve. Maddox said conflicts abroad have little bearing on everyday life in Western North Carolina and that continuing strife in Gaza won’t help bring down grocery prices in the United States. He also condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but said America’s focus should remain somewhat more domestic.
“I believe one country shouldn’t march into another and take over land,” he said. “But the world economy being what it is, that’s not helping people in Western North Carolina. We should turn focus inward, protect freedom where we can and support good behavior.”
Maddox’s first task is to convince Democrats — and unaffiliated voters who choose to vote in the Democratic Primary Election — that he can win in a field with other candidates who are already established in political, social and fundraising circles. Jamie Ager, who announced in June, has raised more than $340,000 this cycle, with Hendersonville physician Richard Hudspeth trailing with a still-respectable $90,000. Zelda Briarwood and Jacob Lawrence raised about $27,000 and $12,000 respectively, but say they’re ramping up efforts before the March 3 Primary.
Edwards had more than $200,000 on hand at the end of the third quarter but can and likely will call down much more. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, the 2022 Dem nominee, raised well over $2 million in her unsuccessful attempt to deny Edwards a second term. Maddox is certainly aware of the fundraising challenges that lie ahead.
“In talking to my friends and neighbors, what I have to say seems to resonate,” Maddox said. “Common sense and logic connect with people. I’m confident we’ll have the resources we need to get the message out.”
Maddox said his campaign’s distinction lies in his analytical mindset.
“I’m not going to try to make political wins; I’m going to apply logic and analytical thinking to the problem,” he said. “That skill set is unique and will benefit the people of Western North Carolina.”
If he’s successful in the Primary, Maddox said his message will remain consistent whether he’s talking to Democrats or Republicans in the General Election — including that he’s running not out of a sense of ambition, but out of a sense obligation.
“I’m a tenured professor. I have a secure life,” he said. “But I feel the calling to serve in a new way. I believe I can have the biggest impact on people I care about by doing exactly what I’m doing right now, and that’s running for representative from North Carolina’s District 11.”
