Former Green Beret Adam Smith to challenge Edwards in NC-11 Primary
Republican Adam Smith announced his candidacy in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District at an event in Swannanoa on Sept. 20.
Adam Smith photo
Adam Smith says it’s time for a change and that he’s ready to stand up for Western North Carolina in ways incumbent Rep. Chuck Edwards hasn’t — particularly, in Hurricane Helene recovery.
“I think the only time I saw Chuck during the disaster was when President Trump showed up [in Swannanoa, last October],” Smith said. “Why did it take a visit by the President in order for the congressional representative to show up? While my team, volunteers, myself and a multitude of other nonprofits on the ground were actively working in disaster relief and rescue to provide supplies, I never saw him until the president showed up. Then I saw him for 15 minutes. Then I didn't see him again.”
Trump commended Smith for his relief work at the Oct. 21, 2024, Swannanoa event, less than a month after Helene.
“One of the patriots who stepped forward to help was Adam Smith, a former Green Beret,” Trump said, with Edwards looking on from the background. “Adam transformed the parking lot of a Harley Davidson dealership into a makeshift airbase to help distribute supplies, did an incredible job. Adam, what an amazing act of citizenship and service.”
Smith’s remarks at the event were brief but prophetic.
“The biggest fear that Western North Carolina is sitting on right now, at least from the communities we've talked to, is being forgotten,” he said from the podium. “To have you [President Trump] here and have an opportunity to have this conversation at a national level will keep Western North Carolina on the map and not leave the communities holding the bag on the back end of this.”
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Nearly a year after Hurricane Helene caused $60 billion in damage across North Carolina, most local governments still haven’t received anywhere near the amount of money they’ve been promised by the federal government, with estimates coming in at less than 10%. On the ground in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, voters are increasingly blaming recovery czar and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, FEMA and Edwards (R-Henderson), for the delays.
Edwards, who’s claimed authorship of the $110 billion relief bill passed by Congress last December, has never responded to inquiries by SMN about why North Carolina is expected to receive only $9-15 billion. Edwards also sits on the House appropriations committee.
“I think that his response has been ineffective,” Smith said. “I think he's only done one-third of his job.”
Smith first rose to prominence when Savage Freedom, sometimes called the “Redneck Air Force,” organized supply drops, evacuations and rescue missions out of a Harley-Davidson parking lot in Swannanoa, delivering aid to areas made unreachable by landslides, washed-out bridges and roads reduced to rubble.
Born and raised in southern Indiana, Smith spent nearly 17 years in the Army, most of that time as a Green Beret in the 19th and 20th Special Forces Groups. He served a tour in Bosnia, multiple tours in Afghanistan including time with the Defense Intelligence Agency and traveled across Southeast Asia, Central America and South America. After leaving the military in 2016, Smith devoted himself to building Savage Freedom and described Savage Freedom’s response to Helene as the largest grassroots relief effort in the region, with thousands of volunteers, hundreds of air sorties, millions of pounds of supplies and nearly $700,000 raised in a month.
“We fueled everybody from civilian helicopters to the National Guard,” he said.
His frustration with Edwards is rooted in the wreckage of Helene.
“FEMA, in its current status, does not serve the American people. It has to be reorganized. I think it provides a standard of training, and I think it also provides a bucket of dollars, and I think the responsibility on how those dollars are spent and utilized should be left to the state,” Smith said. “I think the continued effort of the federal government to dictate how dollars are specifically spent at the state level kind of smells a little bit like federal government overreach. The responsibility should be on the state.”
Smith also echoed comments made by elected officials from both parties about the possibility of bringing those dollars even closer to the front lines — to the counties and towns where workers on the ground labored tirelessly with backhoes, buckets and shovels, or distributed bottled water, barbeque, blankets and baby clothes.
“I just talked with the mayor of Old Fort this last week about some of the endeavors that they're working on,” he said. “I think they have a town budget of $1.4 million and the road expenses that they're dealing with right now are at $1.6 million. There's no way they can fund that.”
He described a fix that he’d like to see come from the FEMA review council that cuts time and distance between appropriations and action, and he said that the council should simplify FEMA’s processes and direct resources closer to where they are needed. In his view, block grants to nonprofits would stretch dollars even further, and provide better oversight.
Loans came up as a dead end for many storm-impacted businesses; local leaders have been calling for direct grant support from both the North Carolina General Assembly and from Congress, to no avail. An Oct. 30, 2024 SMN story revealed that across the 11th District, more than 5,400 COVID-era Small Business Administration 30-year loans with a face value of $254.4 million were received by legal entities in 88 municipalities or communities — many of which were hit hard by Helene, and many of which are not in a position to accept another loan.
“How is it a viable consideration for a small business owner who's already got potentially a small business loan or a personal loan to facilitate their company, they lose their revenue because of a storm, and now they're required to get another loan that they owe to the federal government based on tax dollars they've already paid? That makes no sense to me,” he said. “We have to look at this from a place of grants, end-user responsibility and monitoring the expenditure of those grants. If we do that, then we change the trajectory of how the dollars move.”
Helene, however, isn’t the only problem Smith has with Edwards’ service. Smith also singled out Edwards for a town hall in Asheville in March, where disabled veteran Jay Carey was escorted out of the room after disrupting the event. A clip of Carey subsequently went viral. Smith called Edwards’ rare town halls “horribly ineffective.”
“If you're going to engage with your constituents, you can't just lose your temper when someone disagrees with you and kick them out of your meeting,” Smith said. “You have to be able to stand and listen to the issue. It doesn't matter how the issue is presented to you. When it's done being presented, give your rebuttal, and if they don't want to listen, that's okay, let them vent, walk away, do something other than just deny them the opportunity to be heard.”
Likewise, Helene is not the only issue Smith would have to address were he to be elected to Congress. With Democrats expected to raise concerns about rural health care and the effects of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” on Medicare and Medicaid, Smith continues to advocate for state-centric, home-rule solutions.
“I think that there is all too often an overwhelming impetus of federal responsibility to provide rural health care at the state level,” he said. “I think there should be a state conversation at the same time as the federal conversation on how the state can help support and provision rural health care.”
Although Smith supports Trump’s tariff policy, he said the rising cost of living cannot be solved without tackling trade, energy and economic development. He argued that Washington needs to do more to encourage small business development and job creation in Western North Carolina, pointing to untapped opportunities in biomass energy — not logging.
On border security, Smith tied drug trafficking to human trafficking, describing them as inseparable problems fueled by criminal cartels. He voiced strong support for Trump’s actions that have largely secured the southern border, but said that as long as human trafficking persists, drugs and people will continue to flow into the country unchecked.
Asked about environmental policy — including Edwards’ failure to deliver adequate funding for the state’s National Parks and National Forests — Smith said he didn’t yet have a clear position on every proposal but stressed the importance of protecting the mountains that drive much of Western North Carolina’s economy.
He also addressed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ recent vote to legalize cannabis. Edwards threatened the tribe’s sovereignty by saying he’d withhold federal highway funding after enrolled members voted overwhelmingly to allow for both medical and recreational cannabis sales on the Qualla Boundary. Few members of Congress have to balance the interests of their districts with those of a sovereign indigenous government within their districts, but it’s a major issue in North Carolina’s 11th, where casino revenue has made the tribe an economic powerhouse vital to the region. Smith said he wouldn’t act in the same way Edwards has.
“I would say, ‘Congratulations, you utilized your constitutional right as a sovereign nation within the United States in order to pass a bill and a law that you thought was in the best interest of your people,’” he said.
As far as the federal rescheduling of cannabis, Smith said he’d be willing to have that discussion only after careful analysis of the effects recreational cannabis has had on places that have legalized it, but that he’s in favor of expanding the utilization of non-intoxicating hemp for industrial uses.
The conversation on drugs then pivoted quickly to an issue close to the hearts of many servicemembers and their families — emerging treatments for PTSD. The FDA recently blocked efforts to expand the use of MDMA for PTSD, despite promising results.
“There's been enough of my friends that have killed themselves, and enough friends of friends that have killed themselves, but there's no reason that we haven't done everything in our power to figure out what works and what works well,” he said. “If ketamine therapy works, why aren't we using it? If MDMA therapy works, why aren't we using it? If all of these potential modalities of intervention work, why are we not dedicating an effort, especially through the VA and the VA process, to say these are proven, that they work, and implement them in the modalities that have been proven to work?”
Although Smith is obviously not the famed 18th century Scottish economist, philosopher and free-market icon of the same name, he does have what he thinks is an innovative solution to some of the most pressing fiscal concerns the federal government faces today — the deficit, and the solvency of Social Security, concepts Edwards has refused to discuss with SMN over the past three years.
It’s something along the lines of the war bonds utilized during World War II.
Citing $17 trillion of U.S. investor dollars currently overseas, Smith said incentivizing those dollars to come back to the U.S. through a tax-deductible bond that gains interest would be a top priority. Bonds would be transferrable only to American citizens and would not be subject to taxes upon maturation. Revenue from the bonds could only be used to reduce the nation’s $34 trillion deficit to a healthier level. After that, the bond revenue could only be used to bolster Social Security.
Smith was blunt about foreign policy. He said he would have preferred the United States not become involved in Ukraine and criticized both NATO and the Biden administration for allowing the conflict to escalate. He questioned why billions are being spent overseas while communities in Western North Carolina still wait for disaster aid. His answer on U.S. involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was similar, again questioning why money is going overseas at a time when local needs remain unmet.
“If it's so important for the Palestinian Authority under Hamas’ direction and leadership — which is a known terror organization that we've known for a long time — if it's so important for their people to have the benefit of aid, why didn't they take the two-state solution that's been offered to them 10 or 12 different times in the last 40 years?” he said.
Smith insists he is not running to build a political career. Instead, he said he is motivated by a sense that entrenched politicians perpetuate the status quo while real needs go unmet. When the subject turned to truth in politics, Smith did not mince words. He said members of Congress who bend facts for partisan advantage are “liars” and that leadership requires honesty even when it is unpopular.
“If nothing changes, nothing changes,” Smith said. “I would say it’s time to make a change.”
On his ability to raise the money needed to run a congressional campaign, Smith acknowledged the importance of fundraising but said he would align only with political action committees that shared his values, including veterans’ groups. But for Smith, the campaign is about more than politics.
“When my daughter, four-and-a-half years old, is 20, what have I done to give her a community, a society and a country to step into for her to be successful?” he said. “If I continue to sit on the sidelines, and I don't demand change by those who are supposed to represent us and do it in a way that's not just conducive to success, but demands American exceptionalism — because that's what this is — not only did not do my part, but how can I ever complain about the results?”
Smith’s entry into the race could present an unsolvable math problem for Edwards; in 2024, Edwards’ primary opponent Christian Reagan walked away with an astonishing 31% of the vote while raising less than $60,000. Reagan’s tally suggests a significant lack of enthusiasm for Edwards among 11th District Republicans. As of Sept. 21, Reagan told SMN he was still “strongly considering” another run after witnessing the assassination of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10. In North Carolina, first-place candidates who do not receive at least 30% of the vote are subject to a runoff with the second-place finisher.
Democrats, meanwhile, have been lining up to run against Edwards, who they feel is vulnerable. At least five candidates have expressed interest in acquiring the Dem nomination, especially after the Cook Political Report downgraded the district from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican.” Several of the Dem candidates have been campaigning for months.
The candidate filing period begins on Monday, Dec. 1. The Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
