Democrat Party Leader Resigns After Allegations of Meddling In 11th Congressional District Primary

Over the weekend controversy erupted in the mountains, as the North Carolina 11th District Congressional Committee announced first-time candidate Jamie Ager would be the keynote speaker at their fundraiser later this month. This led to accusations of favoritism from the progressive activists.

The presumptive front runner for the 11th District Democrat Nomination, Moe Davis, denounced the decision on Facebook saying, “There’s a reason why Democrats have a 30% approval rating.  The significant other of the head of the Buncombe Dems works for Ager’s campaign and the NC 11 Democrats made Ager the keynote speaker at their gala despite their being 6 other candidates in the race. WTF?

Davis continued, “Jamie Ager is a nice guy, but his only qualification for Congress is that his grandfather who he’s named after held the seat 35 years ago. This is not how democracy works. You can’t credibly argue for ‘no kings’ when you crown a prince who the party anoints because of his bloodline. WNC Dems are going to set aside democracy this cycle and go with a coronation instead of a campaign. And Democrats can’t figure out why 2/3 of Americans don’t trust them.”

Davis and the other progressive candidates in the race sent a letter denouncing the blatant favoritism shown by the 11th Democrat Congressional District in allowing only one candidate to speak. In response, the 11th Democrat Congressional District Executive Committee issued a press release stating that a misstep was made, and then they invited all of the District 11 candidates for U.S. House to speak at the gala. Additionally, the Smoky Mountain News reports that the Chair of the 11th District Democrat Party resigned effective August 5th.

Tim’s Take: As I predicted when Jamie Ager announced his campaign last week, this Democrat primary would provide insights into the current Democrat civil war. The old school mountain Democrats clearly back Jamie Ager, given his family connections and moderate campaign message. But Democrat base voters have changed over the last several years. Moe Davis is the most prominent progressive running. His advocacy during this controversy and the Executive Committee’s response, reveals that the energy in the Democrat Party is on the socialist left.