Winner, Winner by Welcome: Jamie Ager (NC-11)
Introducing the Winner, Winner podcast highlighting the Democratic Party's strongest centrists.
Hello and welcome to the Winner, Winner podcast by Welcome, where we speak to the Democratic Party candidates who prove they can win the middle, beat Republicans on Trump turf, and recalibrate the party to the median voter.
Here at Welcome, we work to strengthen a centrist faction that wins and governs responsibly. We support centrist Democrats running in Trump districts through WelcomePAC.
Today, I’m excited to be in conversation with Jamie Ager, who’s running for Congress in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district in Western North Carolina. Jamie’s a fourth-generation farmer and a business owner running Hickory Nut Gap Farm, a sustainable meat company that today employs 25 employees and works with dozens of farmers across the region.
NC-11 has a PVI of R+5, and Trump won the district in 2024 by 9.5 points. The district was recently added to the DCCC’s Red to Blue list.
Jamie is part of our Win the Middle slate of candidates for the 2026 cycle. You can support Jamie here.
We wrote about Jamie’s campaign when we endorsed him late last year:
Jamie Ager is a populist moderate with a distinct rural identity. He’s centering his campaign on his agricultural roots. As a fourth-generation farmer who focuses on local economic resilience rather than national culture war issues, Ager explicitly campaigns on a willingness to “speak out against [his] own party” to position himself as an independent voice.
His candidacy is built around his small business Hickory Nut Gap Farms, a regional meat producer that allows him to speak authentically about how Trump’s tariffs are punishing America’s farmers. Ager’s platform is explicitly constructed to distance him from the “Asheville liberal” stereotype that Republicans often use as an attack. He is instead running as a “Mountain Democrat” who talks about his faith, his love for America, and his support for the Second Amendment.
In case you missed it, you can also catch our short documentary on Jamie’s candidacy on YouTube.