A veteran Democrat who doesn’t get excited by much texted me at night: “This is solid. Democrats forgot how to talk to people like this.”
He’d seen this video by Jamie Ager, who’s taking on a tough but intriguing race in the 11th Congressional District of Western North Carolina
Ager delivers a direct message and a great line: “Helping the rich get richer on the backs of hard-working Americans isn’t working.”
Ager (the A is pronounced like A-plus and the g like agriculture) is a fifth-generation family farmer, raising apples, cattle, hogs and chickens on 250-acre Hickory Nut Farm in Buncombe County with 25 employees, his wife Amy and three sons.
He says, “Farming’s a real job. You screw up, there are real consequences.”
How do we fix government? “Be honest, be curious, work together. That’s how you run a farm. Imagine if it’s how we ran our country….
“The challenges that face our country are big. Rising costs hurt our businesses and our families. Medicaid insures my neighbors and my friends, and now it’s being ripped away.”
Over Hurricane Helene footage, he adds, “the weather that batters us is only getting worse.”
Ager’s grandfather, Jamie Clarke, served in Congress in the ‘80s and early ‘90s and in the legislature before that. He was one of the smartest and most decent people I ever met in politics.
Ager’s father John served in the N.C. House, and his brother Eric serves there today.
The video was produced by Tucker Middleton of Raleigh, an ad-maker and strategist who has worked on ads for Roy Cooper, Rachel Hunt and Jeff Jackson. She’s a Democratic star.
The district’s incumbent congressman, Republican Chuck Edwards, won by 13 points in 2024. Any Democrat faces a climb as steep as the mountains.
But with Trump’s poll ratings dropping, the economy wobbling and congressional Republicans like Edwards cutting Medicaid, veterans’ services, food assistance, education and disaster relief, next year could bring earthquakes.
Ager has a strong, straight-talking start. You can donate to him here.
