Last week, Republican North Carolina State Representative Jennifer Balkcom was chosen as the nominee for her state's 11th Congressional District. In a statement following her nomination, Balkcom said, "I'm blessed to receive the Republican nomination for the 11th Congressional District. Western North Carolina is where I was born, raised, and chose to raise my own family. It has been an incredible honor to fight for Henderson County in Raleigh, and I will take that fight to Washington and work every single day to make life more affordable for working families, improve community safety, support our farmers, and ensure we have the resources we need to continue to recover from Hurricane Helene."
Congratulations to Jennifer Balkcom!
— NRCC (@NRCC) August 11, 2026
Balkcom will deliver results for Western North Carolina by strengthening the economy, supporting farmers & securing the border.
Remember to VOTE for @JenBalkcom in the General Election on Tuesday, November 3 pic.twitter.com/7fS0nBiqEm
Balkcom brings with her a strong conservative record and bona fide Western North Carolina roots to a race that will determine who controls the House after November. Balkcom will face the Democrats' handpicked DC insider Jamie Ager. It's been revealed that Ager would enact a radical, anti-ICE immigration plan that would handcuff federal law enforcement, and he'd push to give amnesty to illegal aliens.
Meanwhile, Balkcom knows we need to be tough on both illegal aliens and criminals at home. Balkcom played a critical role in passing Iryna's Law, legislation passed after Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was murdered on Charlotte's light rail last year. That law cracks down on pretrial release of violent and repeat offenders like Decarlos Brown, who murdered Zarutska.
Not only does Jamie Ager want to handcuff federal law enforcement, but he's also backed by the same radical groups that support Roy Cooper, the former soft-on-crime governor who is now running for the Senate. Those groups include the North Carolina AFL-CIO, the Save Democracy PAC, and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which notably called for defunding the police in 2020.
The contrast could not be clearer: the candidates in North Carolina's 11th Congressional District have very different approaches to law enforcement and community safety. While Democrat Jamie Ager wants to block law enforcement and is backed and bankrolled by the same groups propping up soft-on-crime Roy Cooper's Senate bid, Jennifer Balkcom is working to protect North Carolinians and played a critical role in enacting common-sense legislation that keeps their communities safe.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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