North Carolina Republicans on Monday picked a state legislator to be the GOP nominee in the state’s 11th Congressional District, replacing an incumbent who ended his reelection plans last week.
Party officials in the district picked State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, R-Henderson, to replace U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards on the ballot. Edwards, who has represented the district since 2023, dropped out of the race on Wednesday after a U.S. House committee announced plans to sanction him following an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment.
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Balkcom now faces Democrat Jamie Ager in a race that political analysts say was tightening prior to the committee’s findings.
Voters in the district supported President Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris by 9.5 percentage points in the 2024 election. However, Ager outraised Edwards by a nearly 9-to-1 margin last quarter. And Ager, who owns a farm and a meat business, has built support by advocating for more federal aid for victims of Hurricane Helene, which ravaged the district in September 2024.
The Cook Political Report, a Virginia-based nonpartisan group that studies the competitiveness of elections, in June changed its rating of the race to “Lean Republican,” which means the race has become competitive but that the GOP nominee maintains an advantage. Cook previously rated the race “Likely Republican,” which means a race isn’t considered competitive but has the potential to be under certain circumstances.
Balkcom, a mortgage loan officer, has risen through the House Republican ranks quickly since winning her seat in 2022. She chairs the House Insurance Committee, as well as the House Appropriations on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources Committee.
In her first term, Balkcom was a primary sponsor of legislation that banned transgender girls and women from competing in women's sports in middle school, high school and college athletics in North Carolina. Republican legislators in 2023 voted to override a veto by then-Gov. Roy Cooper to enact the bill into law.
This year, Balkcom led an effort to prevent foreign countries from buying certain land in North Carolina. House Bill 133, which Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed last month, bans people or companies affiliated with foreign adversaries of the U.S. from buying land within 50 miles of a military installation — and from buying any farmland anywhere in the state.
Balkcom announced her campaign to replace Edwards less than 24 hours before GOP officials in his district met Monday evening to discuss a new Republican nominee.
Balkcom said in a 10:21 p.m. social media post on Sunday that she hadn’t planned on seeking a U.S. House seat but had been encouraged to run and felt compelled to “step up.” At least two other legislators from western North Carolina — state Sens. Kevin Corbin and Tim Moffitt — had announced that they were considering a run for the nomination but ultimately decided against it.
Party officials in Balkcom’s district must now nominate a new candidate to backfill the position in the legislature. All legislative seats are up for election in November. Balkcom faced Democrat Lynne Russo in the state’s 117th House District, which leans Republican.