Moe Davis enters NC-11 congressional race
Retired Air Force Col. Moe Davis tells The Smoky Mountain News he'll run for the 11th Congressional District seat currently held by Rep. Chuck Edwards in 2026.
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Retired Air Force Col. Moe Davis is stepping back into familiar turf — running for Congress in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District.
“I just keep looking at what Chuck Edwards is not doing for the district,” Davis told The Smoky Mountain News May 5. “People here are hurting, particularly after Helene, and they deserve somebody that's going to work for them, rather than for the billionaire out-of-state donors that own Chuck Edwards.”
A Shelby native, Davis graduated from Appalachian State University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice before earning his J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law. Davis went on to serve as a lawyer in the U.S. Air Force for 25 years, working as chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo Bay military commissions in 2005. In 2007, he resigned in protest over political interference and the use of evidence obtained through torture and became a prominent critic of detainee policies. Davis also worked for the Congressional Research Service and as a professor at Howard University School of Law. Recently, he’s served as co-host of American Muckrakers podcast “Muck You” alongside David Wheeler.
In 2020, Davis ran as a Democrat for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, a seat previously held by Mark Meadows. After defeating Primary Election challengers Gina Collias, Phillip Price, Michael O’Shea and Steve Woodsmall without a runoff, Davis lost to Republican Madison Cawthorn in the General Election by just over 12 points.
Despite his lack of experience, Cawthorn wasn’t just a candidate — he was a phenomenon, energizing the right and drawing close to President Donald Trump until Trump’s defeat in the same election that propelled Cawthorn to Congress.
During Cawthorn’s term, Davis helped found a super pac, firemadison.com, which dogged the freshman congressman throughout his brief tenure and contributed to his downfall by releasing damaging information along with tawdry photos and videos of Cawthorn. In 2022, Cawthorn narrowly lost his reelection bid to then-Sen. Chuck Edwards in the Republican Primary Election. Edwards went on to defeat Buncombe County Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara in the General Election, and he also defeated Buncombe Rep. Caleb Rudow in 2024.
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Edwards has increasingly come under scrutiny for his performance while in office, most notably in failing to acquire the $60 billion North Carolina says it needs to recover from Hurricane Helene. A bill Edwards claims he authored last December will instead deliver between $9 billion and $17 billion; however, a Smoky Mountain News investigation in March revealed that most local governments hadn’t yet received any money from the federal government six months after the storm.
In a March 13 town hall, Edwards faced fierce opposition. During his speech to delegates at the NC-11 GOP convention on April 26, Edwards touted his proximity to Trump on nearly every issue, claimed “we’re winning” and mocked Democrats.
“I think a lot of folks, whether it's themselves or their family or their neighbors, are starting to feel the pain of potentially losing their Medicaid coverage, getting rid of Head Start, getting rid of Meals on Wheels, cutting staff at the VA. There's nothing good for Western North Carolina in the agenda that Chuck Edwards is committed to.”
As a veteran, Davis is particularly troubled by issues affecting the Veterans Administration. In late March, VA Secretary Doug Collins was greeted by demonstrators while visiting the Charles George Medical Center in Asheville — known as one of the finest such facilities in the country.
“I get my health care at the VA,” Davis said. “The administration wants to cut 20% of the VA staff in order to make the VA more effective and efficient. But if you believe that, go down to your local high school and tell your football coach you want to make the team more effective and efficient by only putting nine players on the field instead of 11 and see how that works.”
Davis thinks he may be able to make some inroads with veterans upset with their treatment under Trump, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Collins.
“Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think veterans as a whole are not stupid people. They're people that committed to serve the country and I think they can see what's happening. Cutting staff and funding at the VA, it's not good for veterans,” Davis said. “I think veterans in this district, while they may tend to lean conservative, they're also practical and realistic, and I think we can win some of those folks who in the past might have gone the other way by focusing on the reality of what Chuck Edwards and the Republicans want to do to veterans.”
During his last campaign, Davis raised nearly $2.5 million. He thinks it will take at least $3 million to run a competitive race this time around, but he’s not overly concerned with economic instability affecting donors, noting that ActBlue just had its largest fundraising quarter ever.
“People are, I think, energized, and that's what I'm seeing. I've been out to a couple of the Democratic county conventions and turnout has been record-setting,” he said. “I think people are focused and willing to put their money and their effort behind trying to do what we can to preserve democracy and look after people.”
If the money comes, Davis may have a few other factors trending in his favor that could make the race closer than his 2020 bid. The president’s party typically loses seats during mid-term elections, Cook’s Political Report pegs the district at R+5, davesredistricting.org says the district performed at 53.8% for Republicans from 2016 to 2022 and the regular protests against Trump and Edwards in towns large and small across the rural 11th suggest a level of engagement that hasn’t been present in the past.
Compared to previous Democratic congressional candidates in the 11th District, Davis performed best in rural counties.
On X, Davis said he’s still “getting the pieces in place and will make it official soon.”
Candidate filing for the 2026 General Election begins at noon on Dec. 1 and ends at noon on Dec. 19. The 2026 Primary Election is set for March 3, 2026.
