ASHEVILLE - There was little daylight among Western North Carolina Republican congressional candidates at a Jan. 25 forum when it came to core ideological issues, such as immigration, gun rights and abortion. But rifts emerged over government's role in providing jobs and how to work with left-leaning local governments.

Speaking in front of more than 200 people at A-B Tech's Ferguson Auditorium, the pack of GOP 11th House District candidates also split over the value of politics and political experience.

N.C. Sen. Jim Davis, the one candidate to have served in elected office, touted and defended his record, while the youngest candidate, Madison Cawthorn, said his age was an advantage.

A total of 11 are running for the newly redrawn district, not counting Matthew Burril of Asheville, who dropped out this month, but whose name is still on the ballot. One, Wayne King, of Kings Mountainm didn't attend the forum. The 11 candidates are:

Lynda Bennett, of Maggie Valley

Jim Davis, of Franklin

Chuck Archerd, of Asheville

Dan Driscoll, of Winston-Salem

Joey Osborne, of Hickory

Steven Fekete Jr., of Lenoir

Dillon S. Gentry, of Banner Elk

Wayne King, of Kings Mountain

Madison Cawthorn, of Rugby

Vance Patterson, of Morganton

Albert Wiley Jr., of Atlantic Beach

Six of those candidates do not live in the newly redrawn district, which covers the 17 westernmost counties. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Transylvania, is not seeking re-election. Mail-in voting has started with early voting beginning Feb. 13. Primary day is March 3.

Organizers at one point stopped the forum to remove media, whom they said couldn't be there because they didn't have tickets for the private event. Staff of the Citizen Times and Blue Ridge Public Radio were allowed to stay after they protested, and Cawthorn and several other candidates said they wanted reporters at the event.

"I think the press should be allowed to stay and hear what we have to say," Cawthorn said, adding media coverage would help them reach more urban areas of the district.

What's government's role in creating jobs?

A substantive difference came after the question of what should be done to bring jobs to WNC. Some talked of a need for training and tax incentives to lure and keep businesses. Others downplayed any role for government saying the market should be unfettered.

Fekete, the son of Hungarian political refugees, criticized the practice of giving large public incentives, saying his city and Caldwell County agreed to a 30-year tax break for Google.

"You can bend over backwards, but you don't have to grab your ankles," he said.

The remark led Cawthorn, who was sitting next to him to shout, "I love this guy," raising laughter from attendees.

The CEO of a real estate investment company who lost the use of his legs after car accident, Cawthorn said the free market was the answer. “Remove regulations, get the government out of the way and the free market will figure it out.”

Bennett, Gentry and Driscoll touted a similar approach.

"Small businesses are the great job generator. They generate more new jobs than any other level of business," said Bennett, a real estate company owner who was the first candidate to declare after Meadows' retirement announcement. Tax and regulation reduction would ease small businesses' burden, Bennett said.

Gentry said he didn't think the federal government "should have a role in job creation." A former Marine squad leader, tactical shooting school manager and human resources technology consultant, Gentry said "the one thing" the government can do "is get out of the way reduce regulation and the tax burden." Federal guarantees for liberal arts degrees should probably also end, he said.

More:After 8 years representing WNC, Mark Meadows will not run for re-election

Driscoll, an Iraq combat veteran and Yale Law School graduate, now works for an investment firm specializing in small businesses that he said would be aided by regulation reduction.

"Let the free market work and keep politicians out of trying to create jobs," he said.

Entrepreneur Joey Osborne said his work involved starting businesses that employ people. “I’ve never had a choice but to create jobs. I know how to do it," he said.

But Patterson, a self-described "serial entrepreneur" and manufacturer said there was a lack of skills in the region. He told a story about being unable to find a local stone mason and said training in "crafts, in skills, in trades, in tech” is key, and with a trained workforce, “we can bring the jobs in.”

More:WNC Democratic House candidates spar over age, experience, guns and health care

Increased training was also favored by Wiley, a doctor who served as U.S. Energy Department nuclear emergency response director and East Carolina University Medical School cancer center director. Wiley said at ECU he worked with the community hospital to train needed technologists.

"I think we need training with the local community and colleges and businesses working together," he said.

Davis cited two job-creating examples as a state senator: sponsoring a law to allow live dealers in at casinos in Cherokee, which added a thousand new positions and a six-year $12 million grant to Canton's Evergreen Packaging, a company with a $92 million payroll and a $250 million regional economic impact.

"The reason for giving them that money is it helped offset $50 million of environmental regulations that they had to deal with, and we preserved those jobs."

Left-leaning towns, cities

Another split appeared over how to deal with moderate or liberal local governments in the district, with some candidates saying there should be no deference to them and, in some cases, they would work to get them voted out. Specifically, candidates were asked how they would work with the officials "to ease regulation" and help businesses in those places.

Driscoll: "I think a lot of times people are misinformed about what actually makes businesses grow, as somebody that's gotten the opportunity to start a couple in the last few years. Until you've done it, you just don't quite get it. So, I think just sitting down having conversations trying to explain it, is the best you can do."

Gentry: "It really depends on the interpersonal relationships. The problem is so many people on the left are so blinded by hatred for President Trump they refuse to reason. So, if someone is not willing to even have the conversation with you, there's not much you can do better than lobby for them to be voted out."

More:Boyle column: Mark Meadows, dinosaurs and creationism

Davis: "I've had broad bi-partisan support because I'm a local government guy. I defer to local government. Whenever an issue comes before the legislature, I call my local government individuals and ask what is important to them ... and keep conversation with them and try to convince them, or have them convince me."

Bennett: Referenced fellow real estate investor Meadows, saying negotiation involves convincing buyers and sellers to give up something. "Negotiation is to bring people together in a way that they don't how the end result is going to come out. It's a complex idea. You have to explain it, and then they have to be engaged in the process."

Osborne: Said political acrimony is an "endemic problem," and can be addressed through his "purple table concept" where local and national officials come to together to hear and listen to each other. But "unlike Mr. Davis I certainly would never defer to liberals for decision making and governmental changes."

Davis, asking to respond, said he deferred to local government "because the place to fix local problems is with local government." Decisions about local leadership should be left to voters and not state or federal government, the senator said.

More:The quick (and dirty) on Asheville's gerrymandering: A timeline on how it got there

Wiley: "I think it's just important to keep an open mind and be persistent and try to find something in common to begin with and then expand from there."

Fekete: "With regulation reform, it benefits the free market. Why not? They'll have to explain to me why you don't want to benefit the society and the people in the district."

Patterson: Said he has experience working in many of the district's counties with different local governments that are "not all Republican," earning him a promise from Murphy's mayor for Democratic votes. "I'm not going to hold him to that, but I'll remind him. I'm a very good negotiator. I've negotiated deals in Russia, Brazil, South Carolina."

Cawthorn: "WNC is made up of incredible people and very diverse city councils. So, I believe that when we go there and we have negotiations with different city councils we need to have an open mind. We need to be ready to stand strong in the negotiation to get the result that best benefits our decisions."

Archerd: "I'm here to represent the citizens of the 11th District. That includes some liberal city councils. But I do that based upon my morals and my conservative principles, and we’ll help every city within the district. We’ll represent every citizen within the district. But it’s got to be on the basis that hopefully you are selecting me on."

Notable moments

In such a crowded field, candidates struggled to stand out. Here are some notable moments.

Bennett: "I am going to join the Freedom Caucus on day one. The Freedom Caucus is one of the most powerful and important caucuses in Washington, D.C. They have actually killed bad bills. And they pull legislation to the right."

Davis: "I was voting for Trump’s policies five years before he was president in the N.C. Senate ... We have taken a $2.5 billion budget deficit, a 10.4% unemployment rate and this last year we had a $900 million budget surplus and our unemployment rate is 3.7%."

Archerd: "I think that we should write a law to prohibit federal funds going to sanctuary cities ... If, like our local sheriff here, (who) refuses to cooperate with ICE and turns a sex offender out on the streets like he did last October, I think he ought to be in prison."

More:Which district are you in? After gerrymandering fight, Asheville, Buncombe get final state districts

Driscoll: "With my background and experience and looking at the Soleimani issue, I think you can add some extra nuance to a decision like President Trump had to make when you were there and 10 miles away from where he got hit ... It was a good hit."

Osborne: Some of the country's key founders feared "entrenched and established faction politics would become so pervasive that our system of checks and balances would cease to function. If our checks and balances have not ceased to function, I don’t know when they will."

Fekete: "Your rights are limited to life, liberty and happiness, those given by God. The rest of opportunity is your responsibility ... And when Bernie says, ‘Oh, health care is a right,' well, your right is my responsibility. His right to health care is not my responsibility."

Gentry: Preserving the republic is a House member's main job. "I don’t see putting your name on a bunch of bills as necessarily a mark of success. I’m just an average person. I don’t have the traditional pedigree of someone that would hold this office. And that is precisely why I am running."

Cawthorn: A candidate has to compete in the "new town forum. Look around; there is virtually no one my age in this room. I have 16,000 followers on Instagram. I can reach this generation. Few Republicans can reach the undecided voters like I can.”

Patterson: "When you say you want to cancel these programs and get rid of these departments, that’s the mistake that was made with Obamacare. To repeal, to reject and replace, you’ve got to have a replacement ... Or you’re just beating the air with words and waving your arms."

Wiley: "If I am fortunate enough to be in office, I would like to focus on medical care, public health, conservation, clean water, things like that, as well as on foreign policy issues, such as preventing nuclear war."