This is another of The Watchdog’s continuing series taking a detailed look at how our region’s major candidates are raising campaign money ahead of the Nov. 3 elections, where they get it and how they spend it.
Among the federally regulated businesses that provided major backing for Rep. Chuck Edwards’s now-abandoned reelection campaign, one segment stood out: the industry that puts on carnivals, fairs and circuses around the country.
Federal campaign-finance records show that members of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association, individually and through its Political Action Committee, contributed more than $100,000 to Edwards’ campaign for western North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District. That’s more than 10 percent of all the money the Flat Rock Republican raised before Wednesday’s announcement that he was pulling out of the race.
In a social media post early Wednesday morning — the day after the House Committee on Ethics recommended that Edwards be publicly censured in front of the whole House for what it described as his inappropriate behavior toward young female staffers — Edwards said he would serve the remainder of his term. He withdraws having raised less than $1 million.
Federal Elections Commission reports filed after June 30 show Edwards had raised $939,984 during this election cycle. Political Action Committees donations make up 39 percent of that total. Among his other major PAC donors are the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the American Battleground Fund.
The Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA) represents about 2,500 businesses and charities that operate or support circuses, carnivals, county fairs, traveling events and related amusements.
Many are heavily regulated by federal, state and local governments that oversee such things as consumer safety, worker protections, interstate travel, and the employment of non-citizen workers, who comprise a large proportion of the attraction operators.
Edwards sits on several House committees with oversight responsibility over these and other aspects of the amusements industry.
His latest campaign report to the FEC shows strong support from the industry, which has recognized his efforts. The OABA PAC gave Edwards’s campaign the maximum $10,000 contribution, and Asheville Watchdog identified 52 contributions from various industry donors from across the country totaling at least another $102,050.
Companies such as Deggeller Attractions, Amusements of America, and Butler Amusements are among the leading companies to contribute to the congressman’s campaign. (The carnival operating in the Asheville Mall parking lot until Aug. 9 is operated by KevaWorks Inc., an associate member of the OABA, based in southern California.)
Even before the Ethics Committee report, Edwards was trailing in fundraising behind Democrat Jamie Ager of Fairview in a race that analysts consider among the few across the country that could determine control of the House. As of the most recent reports, Edwards was out-raised by Ager by more than a 3-1 ratio in total donations. Ager’s lead grew to 9-1 in the latest quarterly report covering donations between April 1 and June 30.
PAC man
Edwards’s funding was heavily reliant on corporate PAC contributions. Ager has pledged to refuse corporate PAC donations. In contrast to Edwards, Ager has raised only seven percent of his $3 million in donations from non-corporate PACs.
Edwards has not publicly commented on any OABA relationship, but he has demonstrated his backing by advocating and voting for legislation that benefits the industry.
In 2023, Edwards co-sponsored the Carnivals are Real Entertainment Act, which called for the expansion of seasonal-worker visas, known as H-2B visas. Traveling shows have relied on non-citizen migrant workers for temporary work during busy seasons.
In addition to OABA’s contributions, Edwards has received $5,000 from the Seasonal Employers PAC, which advocates for businesses that depend on workers needing the H-2B visa, including hotels, agriculture and traveling amusements.
According to the immigration-reform organization Forum Together, nearly 40 percent of H-2B visas go to the landscaping and groundskeeping business, leaving the traveling entertainment industry unable to obtain enough H-2B visas to employ enough workers for busy seasons.
Edwards’s proposed bill died when the last congressional session expired at the end of 2024. He resubmitted the bill on April 8, 2025, which included a new provision sought by OABA enabling workers in traveling amusements to qualify for a special visa traditionally meant for non-citizen athletes, musicians, and performers called P-class visas. Unlike H-2B visas for seasonal workers, these visas allow longer time limits of up to five years with the opportunity to renew.
OABA featured Edwards’s work on the industry’s behalf in the January-February 2026 issue of its membership magazine. It lauded him as the industry’s “champion” and said the new legislation will promote stable, legal seasonal labor for its industries operating in rural America.
The magazine wrote: “His efforts help ensure that the needs of the mobile entertainment sector remain visible and prioritized even when Congress struggles to advance broader immigration legislation.”
In a separate article, the magazine also reported on an OABA fundraiser where the association raised $112,000 for Edwards’s campaign.
The congressman’s campaign-finance reports reviewed by The Watchdog confirm at least this amount from donors in the traveling-amusements industry between Oct. 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, the recent reporting deadline. A spokesperson for the OABA reached by phone at its headquarters in Massachusetts declined to comment for this story.
The association also contributed to other congressional candidates from both political parties, including Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California, who introduced the measure.
In Congress Edwards has been a firm conservative on immigration, supporting the construction of President Trump’s border wall, the withholding of federal aid to sanctuary cities, and mandatory state and local law enforcement cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Border Patrol.
In response to questions from WLOS-TV earlier this year, Edwards called for the deportation of all undocumented residents, saying they are “here illegally and should be considered just that, illegal.”
Pro-Israel, pro-oil donations
While the traveling-amusement industry was Edwards’s single largest source of money, he also relied on AIPAC, the leading advocate for Israel, which has donated $43,000 to the congressman, although none of that money has been donated in 2026.
Edwards has long been a supporter of legislation benefiting Israel and strengthening its relationship with the United States.
Another key supporter is The American Battleground Fund, which contributed $18,786 this election cycle. The Joint Fundraising Committee was also a major financial supporter of Edwards’s 2024 congressional campaign, donating more than $43,000.
The fund has received much of its money from the oil, gas, and energy sector, businesses with a direct stake in energy and environmental policy, such as Arlington Oil and Gas, Quantum Energy Partners, iGas, and Mabee Ranch.
After Edwards’ withdrawal from the race, his remaining campaign funds could end up in a few places. Under Federal Election Commission rules, Edwards has 60 days to decide what to do with the money. He has the option to return the money to his donors, donate it to charity or a Republican Party committee, or transfer a maximum amount of $2,000 to another campaign. Any personal use of funds is prohibited.
Edwards’ withdrawal ends his reelection campaign, but it does not erase the financial relationships that shaped it. Campaign finance records show the traveling amusement industry became one of his largest financial backers. While campaign finance records don’t directly establish why donors support a candidate, they provide insight into the individuals, businesses, and organizations that choose to invest in a campaign, and in this case, show that those with a legislative stake have heavily invested in a candidate’s election.
Kayla Bradshaw is Asheville Watchdog’s journalism intern and the series’s lead reporter. She is a journalism and political science major at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University Editor of The Daily Tar Heel, and a native of Marshall. She can be reached at kbradshaw@avlwatchdog.org.
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