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| Moe Davis |
In a wickedly ironic post on Facebook at 11:29 last Saturday night, Democratic primary candidate for the NC 11 seat, Col. Moe Davis, gave up his candidacy for Congress: "Tonight, I concede to John Ager."
John Ager? Davis was supposedly running next March in the primary against Jamie Ager, John's son, but Davis had an important point to make: That Jamie is nothing but a nepo baby of Western North Carolina Democratic royalty, a descendant of the late Jamie Clark, who founded Hickory Nut Gap Farms near Fairview in Buncombe County, very near the Henderson County Line, and who served a few terms in both the North Carolina General Assembly and in the US Congress. Jamie Clark begot through his daughter a grandson, John Ager (served four terms in the NCHouse), whom Moe Davis was supposedly conceding to, and who begot Jamie Ager (running for the US Congress now) and Eric Ager (serving in the NCHouse now). A genuine dynasty, but what does that matter if Jamie Ager can win? I like his chances.
But Moe Davis's point is logical, and Jamie Ager's entry into the race does look an awful lot like a coronation -- especially if you ignore the respect that family has earned in a wide neighborhood in both Buncombe and Henderson and if you also discount the recruitment efforts of high-ranking Democratic Party officials in those two counties who wanted Jamie Ager simply because they thought he had a legitimate shot at unseating fast-food purveyor Chuck Edwards. After Moe Davis's failed bid to take the seat in 2020, his relationship with the Party took a nosedive, and the style and substance of his midnight Facebook post tells you a great deal about why.
It's a shame, too. But when the fighting spirit I admire in any Democrat becomes a habit of tone-deafness and hurtful back-biting, the base is gonna skedaddle from you, because that don't play well in Western North Carolina.
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