NC-11 candidates offer competing ‘mountain values’ in unique ads

Both major party candidates for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District debuted new ads in the Asheville media market this week. The political commercials couldn’t be much more different, yet they’re competing to appeal to the same rural community.  

Democrat Jamie Ager, a fourth-generation farmer who owns Hickory Nut Gap, put out a spot titled “Barn Dance.” It’s the first ad to run in NC-11 this cycle in partnership with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 

The ad opens with Ager wearing a collared shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap. He’s on a stage, rallying supporters in a wooden structure decorated with twinkling fairy lights. 

“Do you know what we need more of in Washington, D.C.?” Ager asks, speaking into a microphone. “Barn dances!”

The shot cuts to Ager dancing with his wife, Amy. In the background, musicians play violin, banjo, guitar, and upright bass.

Ager explains that he and Amy host barn dances every month.

“Politicians just dance with lobbyists, but I’ll take a good mountain hoedown any day,” he said. “In Congress, I’ll invest in Western North Carolina again by taking on corporate greed that raises our costs, and I’ll fight for our Helene recovery funds.”

“Jamie and Amy host these barn dances at the farm where their focus for the past 25 years has been building community through agriculture,” Ager campaign manager Grayson Barnette told NC Newsline in a statement. “We operate with that same mindset, where we work to bring the community together through our campaign.”

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Republican Jennifer Balkcom, a state representative from Henderson County and eighth-generation Western North Carolinian, took a different approach to get voters’ attention. Her YouTube channel titles the spot, paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee, as “Mom.”

As Balkcom says she comes from a long line of “tough mountain women,” the camera pans to Balkcom and her mother chatting in a field of cows. There’s mooing in the background. 

“Mom raised us on her own. She taught us to be strong,” Balkcom said, the two women holding mugs at a wooden table. “And when someone broke into her house, she shot them.”

“You break into my house, you’re going to get shot,” Balkcom’s mother said as the background music pauses.

“Mom’s a fighter,” Balkcom said.

“She is too,” her mother responded. “She’ll fight for lower cost, Helene funding, and better healthcare.”

The Balkcom campaign did not respond to NC Newsline’s requests for comment, but NRCC spokesman Reilly Richardson said, “While liberal Jamie Ager is running on Democrats’ far-left, high-tax, big-government agenda, Jennifer is focused on providing Western North Carolina families with independent leadership and real results.” 

DCCC spokesperson Madison Andrus criticized a quote from Balkcom’s ad, saying it didn’t reflect when a reporter asked Balkcom if Edwards should resign from Congress.

“‘Tough mountain leadership’ isn’t sitting in pained silence for 15 seconds after being asked if a serial sexual harasser deserves to keep receiving a taxpayer funded salary,” Andrus told NC Newsline.

‘Driving a conversation’

Western North Carolina political science professor Chris Cooper said he thinks the NC-11 race is more interesting than the other 434 congressional districts combined, and these two ads illustrate it.

“We spend so much time talking about nationalized politics and how very few campaigns really represent the place where they’re conducted, and then NC-11 is a big, bright exception to that rule,” Cooper told NC Newsline. “These are two ads that only would have been run in NC-11.”

He estimated Balkcom’s ad has received more attention and criticism than Ager’s, but said that isn’t necessarily a negative. 

Balkcom entered the race on Aug. 10, replacing GOP U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards after his withdrawal earlier in the month. That left her with roughly four months to campaign before the November election. 

“The biggest problem with the Balkcom campaign to this point has been that she has low name recognition, that people just aren’t aware of who she is, or that she’s running for office,” Cooper said. “Now, because of this ad, she’s being talked about on television and print media and on the radio.”

Without explicitly saying it, the ad tells voters that Balkcom supports the Second Amendment and has the grit to run for office, Cooper said.

“It is driving a conversation around Jennifer Balkcom,” he said. “In today’s environment where we’re being inundated with ads and we’re being inundated with messages, it’s rare that a message gets through and forces you to have a conversation about that person.”