From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Billing himself as a “a warrior, not a Washington insider,”  Adam R. Smith, a U.S. Army Green Beret veteran, recently announced his candidacy for Republican nomination in the 11th Congressional District. 

Smith’s Sept. 21 announcement means that U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, who ousted the incumbent Republican congressman (Madison Cawthorn) in 2022 and won re-election easily last year, has drawn a primary opponent in the 2026 campaign.

Smith, who is a business owner and father raising his daughter in Western North Carolina, has said he brings “battle-tested leadership and commitment to self-reliance to the fight for NC-11’s conservative values.”

His 17-year military career, including multiple global deployments, instilled unbreakable principles: defend freedom, protect the Constitution, and act decisively in crisis, his campaign announcement noted. 

After leaving the Army, Smith founded Savage Freedoms Defense to empower veterans and civilians with leadership and preparedness training.

During Tropical Storm Helene’s Sept. 27, 2024 devastation, when federal and state responses faltered, Smith reportedly launched Savage Freedoms Relief Operations, mobilizing over 150 Special Operations veterans and 3,000 volunteers in the “Redneck Air Force.”

The operation reportedly executed 2,500-plus air sorties and hundreds of ground missions, delivering more than 6 million pounds of supplies to isolated towns throughout WNC.